Have Fox, Will Travel
by Mrs.InsaneOne
Summary: The trust of a child is a fragile thing… Naruto becomes disenchanted with Konoha and the Sandaime Hokage when he stumbles upon the truth of who and what he is on his eighth birthday. Smart!Naruto, Protective!Harry, Smart!Harry, Dudley!Redeemed, & Fan-girl!Ginny
1. Lies and Leave Taking

**Full Summary:** _The trust of a child is a fragile thing… Naruto becomes disenchanted with Konoha and the Sandaime Hokage when he stumbles upon the truth of who and what he is on his eighth birthday. Armed with the knowledge that there was a slight chance he still might have living relatives, Naruto runs away from Konoha and the lies that had cut him to the quick. Smart!Naruto, Protective!Harry, Smart!Harry, Dudley!Redeemed, &amp; Fan-girl!Ginny_

**Disclaimer:** _All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies and all Naruto characters are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites._

**Warnings:** _AU for parts of both worlds (i.e. kiss canon goodbye), mild character bashing, mild to moderate violence (there are shinobi involved after all), and a few others that will be announced as they crop up. _

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

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**Chapter 1: Lies and Leave Taking**

_October 10, 1998, Evening  
Konohagakure no Sato, Hi no Kuni_

Eight year old Uzumaki Naruto cut to the left at the last second instead of to the right like he usually did as he reached the end of the street with a large mob of angry drunks somewhere behind him in hot pursuit. Ever since he'd been tossed out of the orphanage at just a few months shy of age six (when he started at the Konoha Shinobi Academy), he'd been chased all through the village if he dared to show his face after sunset. He'd had nearly a one and a half year's respite from the angry mobs after the Sandaime Hokage had set him up with an apartment (after the man had learned that he'd been living on the streets for several months) but that only lasted until someone discovered where he lived earlier that afternoon; on the day of his eighth birthday, no less.

Three hours after the sun had gone down, his apartment had been broken into and Naruto had barely escaped the mob by jumping out of his bedroom window. And so here he was being chased through the streets of Konoha again. At least the drunken civilians chasing him were fairly easy to ditch when compared to the shinobi that often chased after him through the day each time that he got caught pranking the village. Dressed as he was in bright-kill-me-now orange, most people would think that the eight year old would have difficulty in evading any one but Naruto had quickly become an expert at stealth and concealment; he had to be if he wanted to survive in a village that hated him.

Hearing his pursuers falling even further behind, Naruto took the opportunity to hunt for a hiding place where he could spend the night undisturbed since he knew that going back to his apartment at this point would only be asking for them to find him again. He found the perfect place in the form of a warehouse that looked to be neglected and forgotten. After glancing behind him to make certain that no one was watching him, Naruto ducked into the deeper shadows and slipped around to the back of the building where he promptly picked the locks to the warehouse's back door so that he could slip inside.

The child then promptly locked the door behind him (in case anyone thought to check the building) before he moved further into the warehouse that he soon learned was something of a storage facility for old documents. He thought it really odd that there hadn't been any real security measures to prevent someone from breaking in and stealing the documents. What he didn't realize was that the building itself was normally hidden under a specialized genjutsu and combination barrier that prevented anyone from ever discovering the warehouse existed if they were specifically looking for the building but didn't have authorization to enter it.

A genjutsu and barrier that he'd barreled right through in his desperate hurry to escape his pursuers; something that was only possible because he _hadn't_ been looking for that specific building.

Naruto stared around him in nervousness for a few minutes (out of fear that he'd tripped an alarm of sorts) before he gradually relaxed as five minutes and then ten minutes passed without anyone barging in to capture him. It was at that point that he began searching for some out of the way spot to curl up for the night. After walking up and down the rows and rows of boxes for several minutes looking for and failing to find a place to sleep for the night, Naruto's curiosity got the better of him and he began digging through random boxes and peeked at the occasional file.

He probably would have fallen asleep over one of the boxes of boring files if he hadn't stumbled upon the stack of boxes that held the records and important documents for those people whose surnames started with 'u'. He chuckled when he discovered that Iruka-sensei was only ten years older than him; the Chuunin instructor had always come off far older than eighteen whenever he caught Naruto playing hooky from classes in order to prank the village. It was even more of a surprise to discover that the rather strict Chuunin had been something of a class clown and prankster while he'd been in the Academy; the man didn't seem to be the type.

It wasn't until Naruto found his own birth certificate that Naruto found anything worthwhile though; the names of his parents. The moment the eight year old read their names, he knew that Sarutobi Hiruzen (the Sandaime Hokage) had lied to him all his life; there was no way that the man hadn't known exactly who Naruto's parents were. After all, the Sandaime had been very close to the Yondaime Hokage (one Namikaze Minato) according to everything he'd learned through the few history classes he'd actually stayed awake for. So, the Sandaime would have known that Minato's wife had become pregnant.

The knowledge that a man he'd seen as something of a grandfather for as long as he could remember had lied to him hurt; especially when he knew the man knew how much it would have meant to Naruto to know that he had had a family at one point. The man had left Naruto to think that his parents had abandoned him like a piece of garbage in the night; not even bothering to tell Naruto that he knew them and that they'd died. Naruto could've taken not learning his parents' names until he was older (he wasn't stupid, he could have understood the need to keep the identity of his parents a secret in order to protect himself from his father's enemies) in exchange for the Hokage telling him that his parents hadn't abandoned him and that he wasn't just some nameless orphan.

It was the last straw for the blond haired, blue-eyed, bewhiskered boy.

He could take the spiteful and hateful looks from the villagers. He could ignore the angry accusations and cruel name calling from adults and children alike. He could even handle the numerous drunken mobs that sought to beat him black and blue the moment the sun set (they never actually caught him, after all). He could take being shunned by all but a very small handful of individuals all of his life. And he could accept the unending loneliness that had dogged his heels since the moment he understood what loneliness was.

But he could not take the knowledge that the man he'd loved and respected had looked him right in the eye and lied to him.

Because, if the Sandaime could lie about knowing who his parents were and what had happened to them, then what else had the man lied to him about? Did he know why the villagers hated him? (He knew it wasn't because of the pranks like the Sandaime always claimed it was since he'd only started pranking them because of the cold looks and cruel names). Did he know why the villagers always called him a demon each time they spoke about him when they didn't think he could hear them? Would the villagers ever accept him just because he earned his hitai-ate like Sarutobi had hinted they would? Or was the old man just looking to use Naruto for his own ends?

Tears coursed down Naruto's face as something inside of him twisted and died.

When his tears finally stopped several hours later, Naruto wiped his face off on his sleeve before he thumbed through the other certificates in the folder alongside of his birth certificate. He was a little puzzled when he found his father's birth certificate in the packet; his father's last name started with 'n' not 'u' and therefore should have been in the box with the other 'n' files. He then supposed that if someone was looking for information on Namikaze Minato, then it would be much harder to find that information if it was misfiled. After all, who would think to look for the man's files in the box holding all of the u's?

Naruto only spent a few minutes studying his mother's shinobi application and photograph; a pretty red haired woman named Uzumaki Kushina who he'd never heard of before seeing his birth certificate. The only interesting thing he'd learned about his mother was that she was a distant cousin to the Shodai Hokage's wife; Uzumaki Mito. Of much more interest, were the certificates of his father's parents, uncle, and grandparents. Knowing that he'd come from a very small clan of talented shinobi (completely unaware of his mother's more impressive clan) was like a balm to the eight year old's soul and it helped to wash away the pain of his broken heart.

It wasn't until he began tucking everything back into the folder that Naruto realized one very important fact; there was no death certificate on file for his uncle (his grandfather's younger brother), Namikaze Kichiro.

The eight year old dug back into the thick file and began separating everything out into individual piles; one pile for each person. Once everything had been sorted, he stuffed all of the papers back into the file folder bar those that pertained to his uncle. The man had been born on March third, nineteen thirty-seven. Earned his hitai-ate at age seven, earned his flack jacket at age nine, and been retired from the ranks of shinobi at age thirteen due to his chakra coils being damaged beyond repair while on a mission. The last bit of information in the man's documents was that he'd chosen to leave the Elemental Countries to seek healing roughly six months after his coils had been damaged.

Naruto was a bit confused, the official notice of leave said that the man was leaving the Elemental Countries and not just leaving Konohagakure no Sato. Did that mean that there were other countries beyond what they were taught in the Academy during geography lessons? Even if that was the case, why would his grand-uncle think he could be healed by someone outside of the Elemental Counties? Why weren't they taught about the lands beyond the Elemental Countries in the Academy? Shouldn't they know what was out there in case there was a threat to the village?

But the most important questions in Naruto's mind were: why didn't his grand-uncle ever return from wherever it was that he had gone? Was his grand-uncle still alive and living outside of the Elemental Countries? Or had his uncle been killed the moment he left the Elemental Countries? Could his uncle have children or grandchildren still living in the Outer Countries?

They were all questions that Naruto desperately wanted and needed to know the answers to; answers that he'd have to leave Konoha in order to find.

Leaving the only home he'd known never would have crossed the eight year old's mind before; he'd loved this village with all of his heart because he'd loved Sarutobi Hiruzen and the old man loved the village. His honorary grandfather had broken his heart though and while Naruto was also fond of Kanzaki Teuchi and Ayame (the nice old man that ran the ramen stand and his daughter) and Umino Iruka (the only sensei from the Academy that didn't treat him like trash), they just hadn't inspired the same level of loyalty that the Hokage had prior to this night's revelations. Naruto would spend the rest of the night pacing back and forth as he tried to decide what to do.

He wouldn't make a decision until after he'd puzzled through the rest of the files from his family's folder and learned that all of his teachers at the Academy had been lying to him and the rest of the students for years. The Yondaime had not killed the Kyuubi no Youko on the night the Kyuubi had attacked Konoha. It turns out that demons can't be killed because they were far too powerful and they weren't actually normal creatures; they were immortal monsters. No, the demon still lived and according to the classified document that had been tucked into his family's folder, the demon had been sealed inside of Naruto just hours after he'd been born.

There was no way that the entire village hadn't known that information based upon all of the verbal, mental, emotional, and in a handful of rare cases physical abuse that he'd suffered for as long as he could remember.

The moment that Naruto learned he carried the Kyuubi inside of him; he decided that he'd leave the Elemental Countries to hunt down his uncle. Even if the man had died years ago, it would be far better to escape the village that hated his entire existence and the adults that had lied to him than it would be to stay and take more of their abuse. If he stayed, then he'd probably end up letting the Kyuubi out at some point to get revenge for their cruelty and he refused to give them the satisfaction of being right when they labeled him as a demon.

Escaping the village would not be an easy feat. He had no doubt that the village's AnBu guards would be sent out to bring him back the moment he was discovered missing. He knew that from experience due to the few times he'd fled into forest outside of the village to escape angry mobs over the years. He'd also have to worry about surviving what promised to be a long journey on his own as he'd need food and supplies as well as a way to avoid bandits and well meaning folks that would try to bring him back for his own good.

The two years of lessons at the Academy gave him a place to start; ninjutsu, taijutsu, shurikenjutsu, and survival training. The problem was that until Iruka-sensei started teaching him a year ago, all of his instructors had consistently sabotaged his education. The Chuunin that monitored the Academy Library had denied Naruto access to the books and scrolls that would have helped Naruto to learn the required material. Naruto wouldn't even know how to read or write (though he wasn't all that great at the latter) if not for Ayame taking the time to help him when he'd stop by the ramen stand for supper whenever he had the money to purchase a couple of bowls of ramen.

When Naruto left the storage building just before sunrise, he carried with him the file of documents pertaining to his family (the entire thing tucked beneath his shirt and jacket so it wouldn't be noticed) to keep anyone from figuring out where he'd gone by searching through said documents. He returned to his apartment to find the entire place a mess; all of his things busted and the walls painted over with graffiti and threats. It was just one more reason for him to leave.

Naruto would spend most of the morning cleaning up the messes, hauling his broken furniture, ruined clothes, and spoiled food out to the garbage. He then spent another hour repairing the broken lock on his door as best he could before he picked up those items that had been salvageable so that he could walk through the apartment without tripping over everything. The file he'd stolen was carefully stashed beneath the loose floor boards at the back of his closet where it wouldn't be found. He then took a shower and a nap.

When he woke up, he found that the busted furniture, ripped clothes, rotten food, and broken lock had been replaced while he slept. Instead of giving him a feeling of warmth like it would have previously, the new items were proof that he was being watched but that his watchers couldn't be bothered to protect him from the angry villagers. The eight year old had been tempted to throw the new stuff out but realized if he did that, then it would only draw unwanted attention. He actually needed those items anyway; at least until he was ready to leave.

It would take two months and eight days for Naruto to prepare for his journey to the Outer Countries.

He started by breaking into the Academy Library after hours and painstakingly copying down any information he could find regarding the Outer Countries as well as detailed directions for any jutsu or survival skill that would be useful (using an abundance of tracing paper as it was easier for him to read tracings than his own writing). This included the Henge no Jutsu, the Bunshin no Jutsu, the Kawarimi no Jutsu, and the Nawanuke no Jutsu in addition to chakra control exercises such as the Ha no Noudo, Kinobori no Waza, and Suimen Hokou no Waza. He also traced the guidelines for making snares and other useful traps (for catching live game), what to look for when setting up camp, how to identify edible plants, and how to clean and cook the food you hunted and gathered in the wild.

On his third night in the library, Naruto looked up more information about his parents. While working through what the books and scrolls said about his father, he learned that the Yondaime Hokage had given Konoha a number of high-level techniques and seals that were kept locked up in the Hokage's Vault in order to prevent them from being misused. It didn't take Naruto long to decide that as his father's son, he deserved to have a copy of each and every technique that his father had created; those techniques could be considered his inheritance after all.

Breaking into the Hokage's Vault two nights after learning about the techniques that his father had left the village was nearly as easy as breaking into the Academy Library; if slightly more nerve wracking for the eight year old. As luck would have it, during his first raid on the Vault, Naruto would learn a powerful jutsu that would greatly speed up his plans to leave the village; the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. It was a technique that would allow him to make solid clones that were powerful enough and smart enough to help him copy the information he needed and wanted, run errands for him, and when the time came for him to leave, play decoy for him.

The best thing though, was that the Kage Bunshin could pass memories of everything it learned back to the original according to what he understood of the notes beneath the instructions and hand seals to perform the jutsu.

It only took Naruto eight hours to successfully learn the Kage Bunshin and the moment he did, he set his army of clones (after discovering that he could create hundreds of them without tiring himself out) loose on the village. He sent twenty clones back to the Academy Library to copy anything interesting, another twenty were sent to the public library to look for anything useful, twenty more to scavenge used scrolls from the Academy and mission desk that he could use to protect his tracings, only five were sent to sneak back into the Hokage's Vault, and the remaining clones would scour the village training grounds for discarded weapons or other salvage that he could either use himself or sell.

His many plans were something that was only possible due to his almost instinctive stealth and evasion skills on top of the village's universal belief that he was the dead last and therefore not smart enough or talented enough to learn a useful and exploitable jutsu like the Kage Bunshin. It also helped that the spikes of chakra sensed in and around his apartment were attributed to him practicing the small handful of skills he was learning in the Academy and emotional outbursts (both of which had been true in the past).

While his clones were doing that, Naruto was learning to make basic storage seals; a fuuinjutsu that they had learned about in class not that long ago. Fuuinjutsu was not taught to Academy students though, that branch of techniques was exceedingly difficult to learn according to everything he'd been told. Most shinobi simply purchased pre-made storage seals from the shinobi stores scattered through the village but Naruto neither had the money nor the hitai-ate that would allow him to purchase the scrolls upon which the seals were created. So, if he wanted to take anything with him, he'd have to learn how to make his own storage scrolls in order to carry his things since not everything would fit in his backpack.

The seals themselves were fairly simple and the theory behind them was easy enough for Naruto to understand but the problem was that he wasn't very good at drawing out the actual seals. An entire night of practicing drawing the seal helped solve that problem and once he could accurately replicate the seal, it only took him an hour to figure out just how much chakra to pour into the seal in order to activate the seal. Making it so that only he would be able to take anything out of the seal was as easy as mixing a few drops of his blood into the ink he used to create the seals.

Once he got the storage seals down, Naruto would spend his nights learning the jutsu that he determined would be the most useful (since his clones were now copying practically everything instead of just the useful stuff). The first one he learned (not counting the Kage Bunshin) was the Henge no Jutsu because he could use it to buy food and camping supplies without getting thrown out of the stores, charged double or triple the cost of the items he needed, and so that no one would grow suspicious over the items he was buying. He also wore the henge when he took in the recyclables his clones collected each night and when he sold the damaged kunai, senbon, and shuriken to one of the local weaponsmiths so that they could be melted down and remade into new weapons.

Half of the money he earned from the items he salvaged was tucked into a storage scroll in case he had to buy more food or pay for a room while he was traveling and the rest was used to buy his supplies. That clandestine income was supplemented by his weekly orphan's stipend that Sarutobi hand delivered every Friday when the man checked up on him. During those meetings, Naruto begged the man for stories about the Yondaime (who had always been something of a hero to the blond) in order to hide the anger he felt at the man for all the lies he'd been told. Hearing what his father had been like was just icing on the cake.

During the days, when he was kicked out of class or if he managed to ditch Iruka, Naruto would disappear into the training grounds to practice his chakra control exercises and the Kawarimi no Jutsu. He also practiced his taijutsu katas, his shurikenjutsu, and trap setting skills. Occasionally, he'd pull a prank in order to keep up appearances and to hone his stealth and evasion skills.

After the first month of preparations had passed, Naruto discovered that his parents had purchased a house and that it had stood abandoned all this time. Sneaking into said house required quite a bit of ingenuity as it had better security than the Hokage's Residence but that didn't stop Naruto. The house was filled with what the young boy considered a goldmine of weapons, scrolls, photos, and keepsakes; all of which he'd seal up into storage seals in order to prevent the village that hated him from stealing them from him after he left. Despite the small fortune that the house had held in weapons and shinobi knowledge, it was the photographs, letters, and trinkets that meant the most to the diminutive blond; those precious items spoke of the love his parents had shared and that they had felt for him (he'd found and packed the nursery they'd set up for him).

Clearing out the house had taken nearly an entire week as Naruto had very carefully packed everything into the storage scrolls based upon which room it had been found in, who it had belonged to (if he could figure it out), and whether it was a keepsake, furniture, useful civilian item, a shinobi tool, or held information. By the time he finished, there was nothing left in the entire house; even the cupboards had been emptied out (all of the expired food thrown out). If he'd known how and it wouldn't draw the entire village's attention, Naruto would have sealed the entire house into a storage scroll so that he could take it with him too.

The final five weeks he remained in the village were spent mastering his new skills and experimenting with the Kage Bunshin; trying to learn the full extent to which the clones passed their memories and experiences back to him. He had been very happy to learn that the clones could help him improve his chakra control by passing that experience back to him but he'd been annoyed to learn that they could also pass their exhaustion back to him. Letting a few of them lounge around and sleep all day also didn't give him an energy boost when he was feeling tired and worn out at the end of the day. He could sleep while his clones worked but if even one of them dispelled while he was sleeping, he'd wake up.

On Friday, December eighteenth, nineteen-ninety, Naruto purposefully pulled his most memorable prank yet; he painted graffiti on the faces of the Hokage's Monument in broad daylight after he'd hid his backpack (filled to the bursting with his storage scrolls of supplies, information, and belongings) in an unused training ground near the edge of the village. After being chased for an hour by a horde of on-duty shinobi, Iruka caught him as planned and he was given a lecture in front of his entire class. He was then made to sit in the corner between lessons until the Academy let out at three-fifteen.

As soon as lessons were over for the day, Iruka supervised Naruto as he washed the paint from the four faces carved into the cliff that towered above the entire village. As much as he would have preferred leaving his final prank for someone else to clean up, Iruka making him do the work himself actually played into his plans because it would give him a valid reason for being out after dark. That Iruka-sensei actually bribed him with ramen to get him to work faster was unexpected and a rather nice farewell meal since it would allow him to have one last bowl of heaven before he left the village; Ichiraku's ramen being the only thing he'd really regret leaving behind.

Three bowls of ramen later, Naruto bid his sensei goodnight and headed towards his apartment until he reached the red light distract where he purposefully allowed one of the drunks he knew hated him to see him walking about alone. It took all of five minutes for the drunk to take the bait and call the rest of his buddies out for a little 'demon' hunting. Naruto smirked, as he led the group on a wild goose chase through the village; the eight year old purposefully staying just a few feet ahead of the mob instead of attempting to outrun them and hide like he normally would.

He eventually headed for the training ground where his things had been stashed earlier, putting just a bit more distance between himself and his pursuers (it wouldn't do to allow anyone to see him collecting his things after all and he couldn't afford to let the mob actually catch him). Two hours and fifteen minutes after he'd said goodnight to Iruka and the Kanzakis, Naruto slipped out of the village with his backpack in hand and went to ground after making a single Kage Bunshin that hid in plain sight.

The original Naruto then waited until he saw the masked AnBu guards show up to escort his Kage Bunshin back to his apartment before he slipped out from his hiding spot and headed west beneath the light of the stars in the darkness of the new moon. Once the walls of Konoha were no longer visible over the tops of the trees, Naruto stopped and changed into the dark green and black clothes he'd purchased for himself in order to make it harder for someone to see him traveling through the shadows. He also pulled on a hood and cloth face mask to hide his pale skin and bright hair; two things that would stand out almost as much as his orange tracksuits did.

The eight year old would run himself ragged for the next three nights as he sought to put as much distance between himself and Konoha as possible; traveling from sunset to sunrise in order to hide from any other travelers and sleeping inside of dead tree trunks or caves during the day. His clone would dispel at sunrise on the twenty-first as planned and Naruto let out a sigh of relief when he received his memories from that clone; no one had discovered his decoy and his leaving had not been noticed. The fact that his clone had dispelled itself in his apartment undiscovered would hopefully throw any pursuit off for another couple of days before anyone stumbled across his three day old trail.

A severe winter rainstorm passing through the area around that time would actually wipe out all traces of his passing.

On his sixth night of travel, Naruto crossed the border between Hi no Kuni and Tani no Kuni and swung south in order to avoid running into any shinobi patrols from Amegakure no Sato that might seek to harm him. He also avoided the scattered villages he came across unless he needed to purchase extra supplies; then he'd enter them under a henge, buy what he needed, and leave as quickly as possible. He passed out of Tani no Kuni and into Kaze no Kuni on his tenth night of travel and slowed down as he left the forests behind.

Crossing Kaze no Kuni would be the hardest leg of his journey because it was all desert and while Naruto had read about how to survive in the desert, he had no first hand experience and really had no idea where to find water if he should run out before he reached the western border. There were also far fewer villages scattered about the country where he could purchase more supplies; meaning that he was forced to survive off of the land even more so than he had during the first few weeks of his journey.

Naruto quickly learned to use a variation of Suimen Hokou no Waza to run on the shifting surface of the sand. Another lesson he learned fairly quickly was to find a sheltered place to camp at the first signs of a sand storm. And perhaps the most important lesson he learned was how to collect moisture in a cup by digging a deep whole in the sand, setting a cup in the bottom, covering the hole with plastic, and setting a rock in the center of the plastic so that the water dripped down into the cup below.

He also learned to catch as much rain as he could during the short and infrequent thunderstorms that passed over the sandy terrain and that roasted scorpions were actually tastier than they looked or sounded. And while he lost weight as he crossed the desert, he wasn't starving and he wasn't too badly burnt since he continued to travel by night and sleep by day (which also reduced his chances of freezing to death since it was still winter and the desert was freezing at night).

The eight year old would reach the border between Kaze no Kuni and Yama no Kuni on his twenty-fifth day of travel (it had taken him fifteen days to cross the small fraction of desert he'd traveled over). It was at that point that his resolve almost broke as the towering mountains that the country was named after looked harsh and foreboding. It didn't help that Naruto had no knowledge of where he was supposed to go from that point; the only information he'd found on how to get to the Outer Countries spoke of a portal he'd need to find but gave no location or even a description of where the portal would be or what it looked like.

The thought of turning tail and running back to Konoha and the abuse of the villagers coupled with the knowledge that he'd be punished for running away in the first place was more than enough to spur him on once he got over his fear.

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**Translations:** Japanese to English

Amegakure no Sato – Hidden Rain Village  
Hi no Kuni – Fire Country  
Kaze no Kuni – Wind Country  
Kichiro – Japanese boy's name meaning lucky  
Konoha no Kiiroi Senko – Konoha's Yellow Flash  
Konohagakure no Sato/Konoha – Hidden Leaf Village  
Kyuubi no Youko – Nine-tailed demon fox  
Shinobi no Kami – God of Shinobi  
Tani no Kuni – Valley Country (random country selected as the country in which Amegakure is located).  
Yama no Kuni – Mountain Country

**Techniques/Skills:**

Bunshin no Jutsu – Clone technique  
Ha no Noudo – Leaf Concentration  
Henge no Jutsu – Transformation technique  
Kage Bunshin no Jutsu – Shadow Clone  
Kawarimi no Jutsu – Substitution technique  
Kinobori no Waza – Tree climbing  
Nawanuke no Jutsu – Rope Escape Technique  
Suimen Hokou no Waza – Water walking

**Notes:**

Kanzaki – a random Japanese last name I picked out of a hat (or actually off a webpage) for Teuchi and Ayame since I wanted to avoid the over used fanon Ichiraku as their last name in this FanFic.

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**10-24-15:** _Minor edits made to chapter to fix spelling/grammar mistakes and removed unnecessary author's notes._


	2. On the Other Side

**Disclaimer:** _All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies and all Naruto characters are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites._

**Warnings:** _AU for parts of both worlds (i.e. kiss canon goodbye), mild character bashing, mild to moderate violence (there are shinobi involved after all), and a few others that will be announced as they crop up. _

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

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**Chapter 2: On the Other Side**

_Friday, January 22, 1999, Morning  
Konohagakure no Sato, Hi no Kuni_

The Sandaime Hokage watched from his office window as his shinobi scoured the village in search of the missing blond child that housed the Kyuubi. From the moment Iruka had reported that Naruto had not turned up when classes restarted after the winter break and that he'd been unable to locate the child in any of his usual hiding holes, Sarutobi Hiruzen had felt an icy stone settle in his stomach. He'd immediately sent his AnBu out into the village to search for clues as to what had happened to the young child; they'd all come back empty handed.

No one had even seen a glimpse of the boy since the twentieth of December.

The fact that there had not been one single prank played in all that time confirmed the boy was not simply hiding to evade capture.

That knowledge bothered him because no one had felt the need to look into the matter sooner or even inform him of the anomaly and he never had time to visit the boy this time of the year due to the sheer amount of paperwork he had to deal with before the end of the year.

Throughout the last eight years, he'd struggled to protect the child as much as he could when he was blocked at almost every turn by the councils and his advisors. He'd been far too tired and heartsick to fight them at every turn due to his grief over losing his wife (the love of his life), Minato (who'd been like a son to him), Kushina (a source of much laughter in Sarutobi's life), and hundreds of shinobi and civilians alike all in one night. And then he'd lost Chouko (his beloved daughter) just four years after that when she'd died giving birth to his first and only grandson.

To lose Uzumaki Naruto now, who'd been both an honorary grandson to him and Minato and Kushina's living legacy (in more than one way), was a harsh blow. The knowledge that he'd allowed his grief to lead him down this road tasted bitter in the back of his throat as he only had himself to blame. Anger soon followed the guilt and he swore he'd take the village apart brick by brick to find the little blond bundle of sunshine if he had to. When he got his hands on the person or persons responsible for kidnapping the child, he'd make an example of them before the entire village.

And they had better pray that Naruto was unharmed or he'd show them exactly why it was unwise to piss off the Shinobi no Kami.

Turning away from the window, Sarutobi faced the five men standing in the room with him (their faces hidden beneath porcelain masks cast in the shape of various animals) and addressed them, "It is time to deal with Danzou; I want every last weed that that man has allowed to take Root in my village to be ripped out in its entirety. If he resists; kill him. It is high time that I cleared the village of rotting deadwood."

"Hai, Hokage-sama."

Sarutobi didn't bother to watch the men leave, instead turning back to face the window as he continued to monitor the blue and green clad shinobi patrolling the streets and interrogating the villagers as he tried not to think about the fact that he'd just ordered his former friend and rival to be killed if he resisted arrest. Every so often, a man or a woman would be dragged off in the direction of the Torture and Interrogation Facility to be questioned further.

The Sandaime could practically see the fear spreading through the village as the civilians were abruptly reminded that this village was a military village, not a peaceful civilian village.

He would teach them the folly of mistaking his benevolence for weakness.

* * *

_Friday, January 22, 1999, Morning  
Yama no Kuni, Elemental Nations &amp;  
Mt. Asahi, Hokkaido, Japan_

It would take Naruto ten long days to find the portal; two days of that time spent running from a small group of bandits that had crossed paths with him at one point.

Naruto hadn't recognized the portal for what it was at first; the weatherworn seals barely visible on the face of the mountain between two of the taller ridges and only visible at very specific times of the day. He'd actually passed the thing twice before he'd caught the briefest glimpse of the seals as the sun hit them just right to form shadows of the slight depressions and found the ancient stone sign post designating the spot as the West Gate. The eight year old had then camped beside the portal for two days before he worked up the courage to activate the portal using his chakra.

Sapphire eyes danced with wonder as his chakra raced through the seals carved onto the side of the mountain; the lines of the seals glowing blue as he continued to pour chakra into the stone until the entire design was glowing brightly. The moment he dropped his hands, the wall shimmered with the light of the seals for several seconds before the light seemed to melt into the very stone to form a doorway of what looked like water. Swallowing his doubts and fears, Naruto hitched his backpack up higher on his back before he stuck a hand into the liquid light and felt warmth engulf his fingers instead of the chill he'd expected.

Feeling reassured, Naruto stepped forward to pass through the strange warmth of the portal and immediately found himself stepping out onto the mountain again. For several minutes, Naruto thought he'd done something wrong until he realized that the mountain he was standing on looked nothing like the mountain he'd just left behind. A glance behind him revealed a much less worn version of the portal he'd activated on the other side; the seals far easier to read even if they were still somewhat weather worn.

Turning away from the inactive portal, Naruto turned his eyes outwards. The view from his current position was absolutely magnificent (even better than the view from the top of the Hokage's Monument) and his eyes darted back and forth as he tried to take in everything. After several long minutes of just staring out over the countryside that the mountain overlooked, it dawned on Naruto that he'd made it; he'd escaped the Elemental Countries without getting caught and dragged back to Konoha.

Elation filled the eight year old and he whooped loudly before he tried to figure out which way he should go; did he continue traveling west in the hopes of finding a village where he could get directions or did he pick another direction? Uncertain of where to go next, Naruto created fifty Kage Bunshin and sent them off in groups of five to find a way down out of the mountains and search for any sign of civilization.

While he waited for his clones to return or dispel, Naruto unsealed the information he'd gathered on the Outer Countries and read through it again while he ate a handful of dried apricots for breakfast (the eight year old had been too nervous to eat before he had activated the portal). An hour later, the first group dispelled and Naruto winced when he discovered that the mountain he was sitting on was actually an active volcano based upon what his clones had found above the portal before they dispelled. He immediately began to worry how safe he was sitting on the mountain as he was and he nearly bolted straight down the side of the mountain in a sheer panic.

The information he got from the second and third group, which had both dispelled at the same time, proved much more helpful and filled Naruto with more than a little relief. The second group had seen what appeared to be a large village off in the distance to the north-west of the volcano while the third group had discovered what appeared to be a hiking trail on the north side of the volcano, five miles below the portal. Without bothering to wait and see what his other clones discovered, Naruto packed up the few things he'd taken out and made a beeline for the trail. Once he reached the trail, the eight year old kept to the trees beside the trail in order to avoid being seen by any hikers moving about in the area.

Traveling through the daylight hours felt more than a little strange for the eight year old after he'd been moving through the darkness for so long. He would have preferred to continue traveling by night but knew it would be far safer to travel through the daylight hours now that he was in completely unknown territory with no maps, no written directions, and no clue as to what dangers lurked on this side of the portal. It would also be far easier to gather information during the day as that was when most other people would be moving about.

It would take Naruto three days to make his way down to the outskirts of the village his clones had seen from the summit of the mountain. The moment he got his first up close view of the village, icy fear griped Naruto's heart as he stared in shock at the sheer size of the town. He'd once thought Konoha had been large but when compared to the sprawling metropolis in front of him, Konoha might as well have been a poor farm village. On top of that, the noisy metal carriages that ran without horses were strange beyond belief and the smell they gave off burned the inside of Naruto's sensitive nose and made his eyes water while the sounds they made hurt his ears.

Naruto had no idea where to even start looking for his uncle in such a place; luckily for the eight year old, he at least had a way to make the search a tiny bit less daunting.

Under cover of night, Naruto used the Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu to create roughly five hundred clones that slipped into the city one by one; each one of them under a different henge to look like an assortment of birds, cats, dogs, rats, and more than a few foxes. Their orders, for their first foray into the city, were merely to explore the streets and get a feel for what the place was like and where things were located. They also had very specific orders not to dispel all at the same time; Naruto didn't want to turn his brain into mush after all and he'd learned early on that dispelling too many clones at once gave him a severe migraine on top of exhausting him with their fatigue.

While his clones were off learning about the city, Naruto hunted for a place to camp for a few days; making certain that it was far enough out from the city that he wouldn't be noticed but close enough that he could enter the city reasonably quickly if he needed to for any reason. Once he found a suitable location, he set up his camp and thoroughly trapped the area to prevent anyone from sneaking up on him. He then made himself something to eat before he curled up in his sleeping bag and tried not to think about just how daunting of a task he'd set himself.

His dreams that night were frightening; his imagination spinning out of his control as it took the worst of his memories and combined them with the memories his clones sent him of the city he'd stumbled upon. The nightmares started with crushing mobs (far larger than those he'd faced in Konoha) chasing him and cornering him every time he turned around only for him to end up being chased by the frightening machines that sped along the roads until he stumbled across a man that looked like an older Minato who glared at him with cold and hateful eyes. Naruto jerked awake after that last one with a strangled cry and tears pouring down his face.

Once he realized it had only been a night terror, the eight year old relaxed a bit and wiped his face clean. Knowing he wouldn't be able to sleep again any time soon, for fear of facing yet another nightmare, Naruto got up and threw himself into his taijutsu training. Each set of katas he did only reinforced his determination to find his uncle and prove that his nightmares and the village that had hated him were both wrong; he was not an unlovable demon. His fear that his uncle would hate him just as much as the villagers he left behind was soon buried once more beneath his sweat and a burning desire for a family.

Over the next three days, Naruto continued to train himself into the ground as he waited for his clones to find something that he could use to decide his next move. He'd lost a few the first night when those strange metal contraptions ran them over (the memories of which had helped to fuel his nightmares) in addition to losing a few as they were captured in traps (mostly the rats) or kicked about by people during the day (a small number of people seeing the stray cats and dogs as filthy vermin). The memories they'd collected before their 'deaths' were proving exceedingly helpful though as they allowed him to familiarize himself with the city's layout without risk of him getting injured or mugged.

It was on his second day of waiting, when his clones reported to him a discovery of utmost importance; the city (which he'd learned the first night was called Asahikawa-shi) was famous for its ramen and there must be dozens of ramen restaurants and stands spread through out the city. Naruto automatically assumed that he'd just landed in the ramen capital of the world as he began drooling over the prospect of sampling the many different types of ramen his clones had seen throughout their explorations. (It would be a few months before he learned that there were many cities throughout Japan that were famous for their ramen and that it was Fukuoka-shi in Kyushu that was considered by a good number of people to be the ramen capital of Japan).

The only thing that prevented Naruto from rushing into town to devour his first bowl of ramen in ages (it had been well over a month since his last bowl of Ichiraku's ramen after all) was the fact that the prices were confusing him. All of the stands his clones had seen were asking between six hundred and one thousand yen for a single bowl of ramen and he wasn't certain how much that would be in ryō. He didn't even know if the restaurants and stand owners would take ryō in place of yen and he couldn't afford to spend all of his money on ramen when he still had no idea where to find his uncle.

On the afternoon of his third day waiting, Naruto froze as he received a memory from one of his clones. The clone in question had been wandering around in the henge of a fox (his way of thumbing his nose at Konoha for their treatment of him due to his status as the Kyuubi's host) when it had been picked up by the scruff of the neck quite unexpectedly and found itself face to face with a rather formidable looking man.

"_I've felt you running all over the city for the last three days and at first thought the Elemental Countries had somehow managed to send an army through the portals until I realized that each and every one of the five hundred or so points of chakra running wild through the city all carried the same signature. That made me stop and think about how one person could possibly manage to be in so many different places at one time until I recalled jijii speaking of a man that could make clones. I'm quite impressed that you could manage to create so many copies of yourself without killing yourself as I distinctly recall my grandfather saying that solid clones were a costly technique to use."_

"_I was further impressed when I observed several dozen of your clones and noted that they all looked quite different and that you'd hidden them as animals instead of people. However, I can't just let you keep running all over the city like that though; someone is bound to notice the sudden increase in strays and start investigating. So, if you are not the original, then I need you to take a message back to the original and tell him to get rid of the rest of his clones and meet me right here in three hours."_

"_It is probably best that the original comes disguised as another fox because I don't know if the clothes you are wearing will stand out or not and those of us that live in the Elemental District don't need the added attention that that will draw to us as it will only make our job all that much harder. I will give you my word that I mean you no harm; it is my job to keep those who pass through the portal from drawing attention to themselves. I can also provide you with maps and information to help you find whatever it was that brought you to the Outer Countries, no matter what your reason."_

The man had then set the fox back down on the ground and the clone in question had watched the man for a few minutes before he promptly dispelled himself to pass along the message as requested. A crow clone had dispelled itself a few minutes later; the clone had followed the man through the air as he wound his way through the streets and entered a walled off section that had a huge sign proclaiming it to be the Elemental District. The crow clone had also noted a couple of other clones arriving in the area before it dispelled so Naruto knew the man was under surveillance.

Naruto debated with himself for close to an hour on whether or not he'd do as the man asked. In the end, he figured it couldn't hurt to meet with the man at least once just to find out what the man had to say. He couldn't really walk away from a chance to get a few of his questions answered about the dangerous machines that ran through the city and whether or not he could buy ramen with the ryō he'd saved up and brought with him. To that end, Naruto created four new clones and sent one of them to track down one of the older clones in order to pass along his orders to immediately pull out of the city and dispel in groups of five every ten minutes starting an hour after sunset (in order to give him time to meet with the man without being distracted by a flood of memories and to prevent a large backlash of memories).

Once the clone headed for the city, Naruto set about packing up his camp and dismantling his traps. The eight year old and the three remaining clones then made their way closer to the village before he transformed into a fox as the man had requested (his clones transforming alongside of him into a trio of birds to follow him from above) and slipped into the city. Naruto paused when he received a set of memories from one of his original clones indicating that his message had been passed on in addition to all of the information it had gathered over the past three days. As soon as he sorted through those memories, Naruto began moving again; taking care to avoid both people and the smelly, roaring machines.

He arrived at the appointed meeting place a good thirty-five minutes early and scouted about for the perfect hiding place as two of the newest clones set themselves up in clear view to act as sentries (one staying in the guise of a sparrow and the other changing into an orange tabby cat). The last clone with him had gone to shadow the man from earlier wearing the form of a pigeon to make certain he didn't try to pull any funny business. As soon as Naruto found and settled into a small gap beneath a set of stairs leading up into the building above him, he cast the Meisai Gakure no Jutsu to further hide his presence as he settled down to wait for the man to return.

He didn't have long to wait, the man arrived a good fifteen minutes early. Naruto didn't rush out to greet him though, the blond was far more interested in studying the man with his own eyes first. One of the first things he noted was that while the man easily noted the three clones in plain sight (sparrow, pigeon, and cat), he didn't seem to know that the original Naruto was hiding under the stairs as he never once looked in that direction. The second thing he noted was the fact that the man didn't seem at all angry that Naruto didn't show himself immediately or that he hadn't exactly followed his instructions of dispelling all of the clones.

In fact, the man's dark eyes held none of the cold hate that the villagers back in Konoha had; but Naruto wasn't dense enough to think that that meant that the man wouldn't hate him the moment he set eyes on him in his original form. After another ten minutes had passed, Naruto dropped the camouflage technique and slipped out of his hiding place; a small part of him pleased to note that the man jumped in surprise at his sudden appearance. Naruto warily watched as the man approached him, his posture defensive (much like a real fox would be if approached by a human).

"Easy," the man gruffly (if kindly) urged as he crouched down not far from where Naruto was poised to bolt at the first sign of trouble. "I'm not going to hurt you but you can't keep wandering around on the streets; you could get into all kinds of trouble that would make life difficult for you."

Naruto snorted; he was well aware of just how dangerous this new city had turned out to be after experiencing his clones being killed in a number of different ways. After a moment, he crept a little closer to the man and lifted his nose as he caught the man's scent; his mouth watering when he recognized the scent of ramen clinging to him. He sneezed and backed up a bit when the man laughed the moment that Naruto's stomach gave a loud growl in response to the smell of his favorite food.

"It sounds like you're a little hungry," the man needlessly stated a moment later. "If you'll let me carry you back to the Elemental District, my wife was just finishing supper and you're welcome to join us for the meal before you and I sit down and talk business. Izumi makes a mean salt ramen and we have baked yellow fish and shrimp tempura to go with it in addition to green tea ice cream for dessert. Your three friends are welcome to tag along if it will make you feel more comfortable."

The prospect of a free home cooked meal was enough to sway Naruto; he was tired of his own cooking and from the scent clinging to the man, he hadn't been exaggerating about his wife's culinary skills. Two minutes later, Naruto was tensely cradled in the man's arms as he navigated the streets with ease while his three clones trailed them from the sky (all three of them now in sparrow form in order to draw less attention to their presence). The moment the five of them passed beneath the gate leading into the Elemental District, Naruto felt an immediate difference as the level of pollution and noise dropped off dramatically and he stiffened in the man's arms as he scented the air.

"The Elemental District is surrounded by an ancient barrier that separates us from the rest of the city," the man explained as he set Naruto down on the ground. "It is safe for you to drop your disguise now."

Naruto backed up several feet and eyed the man skeptically for a full minute before he studied the area he found himself inside; instinctively taking note of the various places that he potentially could hide in and at least three alternate escape routes in the event that the man showed any signs of becoming hostile the moment he got a look at him. After a moment, Naruto glanced back towards the man who was patiently waiting and reluctantly dropped the henge he'd been wearing.

"Chikushou, you're nothing but a kid!" the man swore in utter shock the moment he saw Naruto's true form. "What are you doing running about the city alone? Where are your parents? Did something happen to them after you passed through the portal? Or is that another disguise?"

"I'm not wearing a henge and my parents are dead; they died a long time ago," Naruto quietly replied as he backed up a bit further from the man.

"Who came with you then, kid?"

"No one."

"Chikushou," the man cursed again as he pursed his lips and stared at Naruto with open concern. "How old are you and how long have you been on your own?"

"I'm eight and I've always been on my own. Are you going to chase me out now?"

"No, I'm not going to chase you out. I am just shocked that you are so young and unaccompanied by an adult. As I told your clone earlier, it is my job to make certain that those that pass through the portal on Asahi-dake can blend in on this side of the portal and to point them in the right direction to find whatever it was that they came here to find. My name is Sasaki Naoki; I am the Guardian of the West Gate and the fifteenth mayor of Asahikawa-shi's Elemental District."

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto, dattebayo," Naruto declared as he completely relaxed the moment he sensed the man's sincerity, a large grin springing into place beneath the cloth face mask he still wore.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Uzumaki-kun. If you'll follow me, I will guide you to the bathing house so that you can clean up before I take you home and introduce you to my wife. Do you have a clean set of clothes to change into or do we need to stop and get you something to borrow until those are washed?"

"I have clean clothes."

The hot shower Naruto took felt heavenly; it had been well over a month since he'd last been truly clean. It also felt nice to put on clean clothes that weren't grimy and gritty from the weeks of travel (the eight year old had not bothered to change his outfit during his journey; simply washing it when he washed himself in the few rivers he crossed before entering Kaze no Kuni. It also felt rather nice to leave his hair and face uncovered for the first time in a long time and he reveled in being in his familiar orange jumpsuit with a black t-shirt on underneath.

The amount of weight he'd lost during his journey was much more evident now that he was in his old jumpsuit. The pants and jacket had always been rather loose and baggy on him but now the pants barely stayed up and his jacket practically hung off of his skinny frame. On the plus side, his traveling diet of wild fruits and vegetables combined with plenty of fresh game (he'd saved the cheap food bars and preserved fruits he'd purchased for the journey for when he couldn't find anything edible) had induced a small growth spurt (due to the influx of vitamins and minerals that weren't found in his usual diet of store-bought ramen) and the eight year old now stood two inches taller than he had a month earlier.

Naoki-san did a double take when Naruto reappeared after his shower; the eight year old looked much different now that he wasn't clothed from head to foot in dark green and black. His bright yellow hair also stood out alongside of the six whisker marks the graced his cheeks. Naruto tensed up a bit when he noticed the man intently studying the facial marks that looked like a cross between a birthmark and a tattoo but relaxed when the man simply smiled and beckoned him to follow him once more.

Naruto was soon introduced to Sasaki Izumi (a pretty woman with dark brown eyes and a ready smile) and little three year old Sasaki Kenichi. Moments later, he was seated at a small table beside the small family with a large bowl of ramen in front of him alongside a small bowl of steamed rice, and a plate of fish and shrimp tempura. It was a veritable feast for a child that had been dining on scorpions, ground squirrels, cactus fruit, dry meal bars, and dried fruits for most of the past three weeks (the desert and mountains he'd crossed both being far more barren than the forests surrounding Konoha).

Despite the meal being much larger than he was used to eating, the eight year old managed to eat everything he'd been served and even finagled a second bowl of ramen from Izumi-san by complimenting her cooking skills. Naruto was then shown to a guest room and urged to get some rest when it became apparent he was exhausted; a state that was mostly due to the sheer number of exhausted clones that had begun dispelling not long after he'd sat down to eat. He slept well that night due to a combination of a pleasantly full stomach, a comfortable futon, and the feeling of security that came from sleeping beneath a roof for the first time in weeks.

Not even the continued stream of memories pouring in from his dispelling clones disturbed him that night.

His host woke him up shortly after dawn the next morning and served him breakfast before he led him through the Elemental District to his office. Once they were both seated, Naoki got right down to business as he pulled out a thick stack of blank forms while he launched into an explanation, "The Elemental Districts, of which there are a total of four (one for each portal that was created between our worlds), were created shortly after the Elemental Countries were sealed away in a dimensional pocket. The purpose of the Elemental Districts, aside from aiding those who to pass through the portals (regardless of which side they were born on), is to stand watch in order to prevent a war from breaking out between our worlds."

"As one of the four Guardians that stand watch over the portals, I am also tasked to keep a detailed record of all who pass through the West Gate Portal. The purpose of those records is threefold: it allows us to keep an accurate record of the number of people that cross over each year, it allows us to keep track of those who pass through the portals and whether or not they returned to their point of origin, and it allows us to help people search for family members that chose not to return for one reason or another. The individual records are all sealed in such a way that only a Guardian may access them; that is to insure that all who pass through the gates will not be hunted by those that seek to harm them."

"So, before I can make arrangements for a tutor to help you learn how to navigate through this world's cities, I will need you to answer a few questions in order to give me a better understanding of why you chose to travel through the West Gate," Naoki finished as he calmly met Naruto's troubled gaze. "We'll start with the easy questions and work our way up to the more difficult questions. First, I'll need to know your birthdate, the city or village and country in which you were born, and the names of your parents. Also, if you have any official documents with you, such as a birth certificate, travel papers, or a shinobi identification card, then I will need to see those so that I can make copies of them for your file."

Naruto eyed the man for a moment before he pulled out the scroll that contained his family's file that he'd stolen from the storage warehouse well over three months earlier. Once he released the file, he carefully pulled out those documents that he thought would be most relevant; his birth certificate, his parents' birth, marriage, and death certificates, and his uncle's birth certificate, medical records, and the document listing the known details of his uncle's quest to seek healing in the Outer Countries. He carefully withheld anything with any mention of the Kyuubi on it; not wanting the man to turn cold should he learn about the Kyuubi sealed inside of the eight year old or worse throw him back through the portal because of the demon.

Naoki was pleasantly surprised to be presented with those documents as it meant it would be far easier to recreate the appropriate paperwork and documents on this side of the portal; something that would allow Naruto to travel far easier (which was going to be difficult enough as it was due to his age). That Naruto also had copies of his own medical files and Academy records would be helpful too; though his academic records were far from accurate. After providing Naoki with the basic background information, Naruto tentatively explained that he had left Konoha in order to track down his uncle because the man was potentially his last remaining family he had that was alive.

The eight year old was then sent to the small clinic within the Elemental District in order to undergo a comprehensive medical exam and to be given the standard immunizations that all children his age were required to have. After that, Naruto was taken to sit for an assessment test to see exactly where he sat academically for those subjects that were taught universally on both sides of the portal (such as math, science, reading comprehension, writing composition, and social awareness). The hyperactive blond was feeling fairly wrung out by the time Naoki collected him and took him back to his house for the evening; he'd never expected to be tested, poked, and prodded all in one day.

The next day was only slightly better as he was given a complete mental evaluation and a physical fitness assessment before he was taken to a special facility where his shinobi skills were tested and his chakra levels evaluated. Only the announcement that he was finished with all of the required exams kept him from throwing a temper tantrum about being sent through the wringer for the second day in a row. That night, Naruto would sleep peacefully for the third night in a row in the guest room at the Sasaki residence after spending a couple of hours playing with little Kenichi.

* * *

**Translations:** Japanese to English

Asahi-dake – Mt. Asahi (highest point in Hokkaido Japan)  
Asahikawa-shi – Asahikawa City (the capital city of Kamikawa Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan)  
Chikushou – damn/damn it  
Chouko – Japanese girl's name meaning butterfly child  
Fukuoka-shi – Fukuoka City (the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture, Kyushu, Japan)  
Hai – yes  
Izumi – Japanese girl's name meaning spring or fountain  
Kenichi – a Japanese boy's name meaning strong, healthy son (firstborn)  
Naoki – Japanese boy's name meaning honest timber tree  
Ojiisan/Jiisan/Jijii – grandfather or old man  
Sasaki – Japanese surname meaning help tree

**Techniques/Skills:**

Henge no Jutsu – Transformation technique  
Kage Bunshin no Jutsu – Shadow Clone  
Meisai Gakure no Jutsu – Camouflage Concealment Technique  
Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu – Multiple Shadow Clone Technique

**Notes:**

Kage Bunshin – Now, I have no idea whether or not it is canon or fanon but I am using the Kage Bunshin's ability to pass memories back to the original to also pass memories to existing clones. The reason for this, is because I see all of the clones as being fundamentally connected on some level which allows the chakra to carry the memories back to the original and since some of the chakra is bound to scatter in different directions, I see no reason for that scattered chakra not to carry memories to the clones that were all created in the same moment since they are all a part of Naruto. Any clones created after the first group would not be able to pass their memories along to the older clones however, because their connection to the older clones would be far too weak.

* * *

**10-24-15:** _Minor edits made to chapter to fix spelling/grammar mistakes and removed unnecessary author's notes._


	3. Whirlwind Educations

**Disclaimer:** _All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies and all Naruto characters are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites._

**Warnings:** _AU for parts of both worlds (i.e. kiss canon goodbye), mild character bashing, mild to moderate violence (there are shinobi involved after all), and a few others that will be announced as they crop up. _

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

**Chapter 3: Whirlwind Educations**

_Sunday, January 31, 1999, Morning  
Elemental District, Asahikawa, Hokkaido, Japan _

After breakfast on his third day in the Elemental District, Naruto found himself seated once more in Naoki's office while he waited for the man to go over the results of all the tests he'd taken over the past two days. Naruto was more than a little anxious as he had no idea what would happen if he'd failed any of the tests and the last thing he'd wanted was to be sent back to the Elemental Countries before he'd found out what had become of his uncle.

"Relax, Uzumaki-kun, you have nothing to worry about," Naoki assured him as he pulled out several thick folders and set them on the desk. "Which would you like to discuss first; the results of your tests or the information I was able to retrieve about Namikaze Kichiro?"

"You found Kichiro-oji, dattebayo?" Naruto asked excitedly as he jumped out of the chair. "Is he still alive? Do you know where he is now? When can I see him?"

"Calm down, Uzumaki-kun," Naoki instructed with a trace of fond exasperation; the man had quickly figured out that Naruto was a fairly hyper and excitable kid. "Yes, I found information on Namikaze-san; he arrived in Asahikawa-shi on March second, nineteen-fifty-one and stayed for almost two years before he left Japan. According to his file, Namikaze-san underwent several surgeries in an attempt to repair his damaged chakra coils and spent roughly eighteen months in therapy and training before he changed his name to Evans Gregory and left. My father's notes said that Kichiro had been extremely disappointed that his coils could not be fully repaired and chose not to return to the Elemental Countries because he did not wish to be pitied by his friends and family on the other side."

"Is he still alive? Do you know where he ended up?"

"I do not know whether or not he is still alive or not; we lost track of him shortly after he left Japan. We do, however, have more than enough information in addition to a couple of pictures of your uncle that we can use to track him down for you; it will just take time since it has been over forty years since he passed through the Elemental District and records from that time period are sometimes difficult to come by."

"What happens to me though?"

"Ah, that question leads right into our next topic of discussion; the results of your assessment tests. Physically and medically, you are in perfect health right now even though you are a bit underweight at the moment and there was some evidence of malnutrition for an extended period of time but the damage is already being corrected according the tests that were run. So long as you eat a well balance diet from this point forward, you shouldn't have any problems later in life though you will most likely still end up being shorter than average as far as your height goes. Your chakra coils are perfectly healthy and your reserves are abnormally large for someone your age which explains the sheer amount of energy you have."

Naruto chuckled weakly and rubbed at the back of his head as the man glanced up to look at him briefly with knowing eyes before he too laughed.

"Mentally and emotionally, you are mostly well adjusted though there were some concerns by the doctors over some of the results. Tell me, Uzumaki-kun, why did you leave your village in the middle of winter to find an uncle that had potentially died many years ago instead of waiting until you were older and a little better prepared to handle the journey? Why didn't anyone come with you? Surely, there must have been someone who looked after you these past eight years after your parents died."

"All I ever wanted was to have a family. I didn't care if they were all dead or not; just knowing I had a family at some point just like everyone else would have been enough," Naruto whispered as he wove his fingers together and clenched his hands tightly; his eyes on the floor and his voice hoarse as he fought to keep his emotions under control. "Jijii… the Sandaime Hokage, he lied to me for years; each time I asked him about my parents, he would look me right in the eye and tell me that he didn't know who they were and that I was found abandoned and alone in the wreckage after the Kyuubi's attack on the village. He let me believe that my parents didn't want me."

"He also told me that there was nothing he could do to stop everyone from hating me and calling me names. He said they were just angry about the pranks I played and the trouble I caused each time I acted out but he lied about that too; they hated me long before I started pranking them. He had the AnBu watching me all of the time so that I couldn't leave the village but they never stopped the people that chased and attacked me all the time nor did they stop the drunks from ruining all my things the night they learned where I lived. Jijii promised to protect me until I could protect myself but he lied again.

Naruto glanced up at Naoki with turbulent sapphire eyes as he finished, "And if he could lie about those things, then what else was he lying to me about all this time? I couldn't stay after I learned the truth."

"We will do all we can to help you find your family on this side of the portal," Naoki promised sincerely as he leaned heavily on the desk. "Are you going to be alright or would you like to take a break for a bit?"

"I'll be fine, dattebayo!" Naruto declared as he automatically slipped on the happy mask he always wore to avoid letting anyone see just how much he was hurting.

"Okay, if you're certain, we'll finish going over your test results so I can introduce you to a few people. Academically, you're test results were rather low but they were no where near as low as we feared they would be based upon what the academic records you had brought with you claimed. Part of that, I am certain, is due to how short of an attention span you seem to have and the rest I'm guessing is directly related to the difficulties we've noted in your reading and writing skills. You're physical fitness, on the other hand, is right where it should be for your age group."

"Earlier, you asked what happened to you while we were trying to hunt down information on your uncle and the answer to that is; that we will be tutoring you in order to bring your grades up to the current standards for your age group in addition to teaching you everything you will need to know to survive in this world. We'll also set up your identity and apply for an orphan's stipend to make certain you'll have spending money to purchase clothes and anything else you might need or want. You won't have to worry about food, rent, or utility bills though since we'll set you up here in the Elemental District to see that your basic needs are taken care of."

"I have to go to school? But that could take years!" Naruto practically whined as he crossed his arms and pouted.

"Well, you are still a child, Uzumaki-kun," Naoki pointed out with a small grin. "You won't actually be attending a regular school though; you'll be tutored by a number of individuals within the district. And you do realize that it might take years to track down your uncle, ne?"

"Does that mean I can use my Kage Bunshin to help me learn things faster?"

"Kage Bunshin? Is that what kind of clones you were using to search the village before we met? How exactly could they help you learn faster?"

"I get all of a Kage Bunshin's memories when it dies or dispels; so, I learn what it learns."

"So all of the clones you had out running about the city…?"

"They were mapping the city for me so I could find my way around and they were looking for information on my uncle."

"How many days did it take you to make the hundreds of clones you sent into the city?"

"About five or ten minutes."

"Nani?"

"I can make five hundred clones all at once; I just have to make certain that they all don't die or dispel at the same time because I don't want my brain to explode from too much information."

"If using that many clones at once is so dangerous; then why were you taught how to make them? I'd like to think that that would be the type of technique that they kept locked up for older shinobi in order to prevent accidents."

"I taught myself after I copied down the instructions."

"Do you still have the book or scroll you learned it from?" Naoki inquired and Naruto dug into his backpack (which he always carried with him every where he went because it held all of his things and his money), pulled out the storage scroll that held the jutsu that he'd copied from the Hokage's vault, released the seal that held the scroll filled with the tracings he'd made of several different clone techniques onto (including the Bunshin Bakuha), and passed it over to Naoki. The man took a couple of minutes to skim through the flimsy papers for the information on the Kage Bunshin and the Tajuu Kage Bunshin before he let out a whistle, returned the scroll and tracings to Naruto, and stated, "I think your clones will be useful so long as you are very careful; I would not wish for you to be hurt."

"Cool, dattebayo!" Naruto retorted with a huge grin before he got a puzzled look on his face as he changed the subject a second later. "Say, Naoki-jijii, you mentioned something about money earlier; can you tell me how much one ryō is worth in yen? Before you caught my clone and asked me to meet you, I was thinking about buying some ramen but I didn't know if they'd take ryō and I'd never heard of yen before."

"Yen is the form of currency that replaced the ryō back at the end of the nineteenth century," Naoki explained once he caught up with Naruto's train of thought. "The current exchange rate is roughly ten yen for every ryō – though you can sometimes get as much as thirty yen for one ryō, if the coin is in fairly good condition as there are collectors out there that will buy them to add to their collection. If you'd like, I can help you exchange some of your ryō for yen or you can just save the ryō you brought with you for if you ever decide to return to the Elemental Countries. It will only take about a week or two at most for your application to be approved for the orphan's stipend though, so you really don't have to exchange any of it if you don't want to."

"Is it just the coins that I can trade you for or can I trade the paper ryō too?"

"We can exchange the paper bills for you at a flat rate of ten yen for every ryō; we like to keep a ready stash of ryō available here in the Elemental District in order to provide those people, few though they are, that travel from this side of the portal into the Elemental Countries with the proper currency."

"Oh, okay. I think I'll just wait for now."

"That's fine; did you have any other questions?"

"Ano… What type of stuff am I going to have to learn?

"We'll start by helping you improve your reading and writing skills, teach you world history, geography, and higher levels of math, and start you on English lessons since there is a high probability that your uncle settled down in one of the English speaking countries based upon the name he chose for himself and the fact that English was one of the subjects he studied while he was here. We'll also teach you about the different world currencies, some of the universal laws which you will need to follow (such as not carrying your weapons in public and not using your shinobi skills in front of anyone outside of the Elemental District), and how to use all of the technology that you are unfamiliar with."

"Will I still have time to train?"

"Yes, we even have a few instructors living in the District that can help you improve your taijutsu if you wish. Our goal is to make certain you have the skills necessary to fit in the world outside of our walls and to make certain that you can protect yourself if you need to; without resorting to using flashy jutsu or weapons. Do you have any other questions? No? Then let's go introduce you to your tutors."

* * *

_Monday, Feb 01, 1999 ~ Monday, May 24, 1999  
Elemental District, Asahikawa, Hokkaido, Japan _

After being introduced to the six adults and one teen that would be teaching him everything he would need to know to in order to survive in the Outer Countries, Naruto was taken aside by Okimoto Daisuke (the teen) and given a crash course in fashion and slang so that he wouldn't stand out too much and could keep up with other children his age (or older in some cases). Daisuke would also be the one to teach Naruto everything he needed to know about the current technology and how to use those items a kid his age would be expected to use (this would include computers, pagers, handheld video games, CD players, DVD players, and VCRs). He'd spend at least two hours a day with the teen each week night and in the afternoons on the weekends.

Okimoto Hideyoshi, Daisuke's father, would tutor Naruto in math for an hour on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays and for an hour in basic sciences on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. Teshigahara Aika would then teach him Japanese and world history for an hour a day Monday through Friday while Umeji Masao would help him improve his reading and writing for an hour each morning all five days as well. Umeji Catherine, Masao's wife, would teach him how to speak, read, and write English for two hours each afternoon on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays (Catherine being an American who had spent most of her childhood in England before moving to Japan to marry Masao after they'd fallen in love while he was visiting England on holiday).

Yamaguchi Rokuro would have Naruto for two hours on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturday for physical education (to teach him about the various sports played in the Outer Countries as well as to make certain he got plenty of exercise). Rokuro would also lend a hand each morning when Mimori Yoshinori helped Naruto with his taijutsu training and practice. Any free time Naruto had, would be used to either complete his various self-study assignments or used to practice his other shinobi skills so that he didn't grow rusty.

It was a rather busy schedule but because most of the lesson periods didn't last for more than an hour (bar his English and physical education lessons), Naruto's attention didn't really have a chance to wander. All six of his adult teachers quickly learned that Naruto was more of a hands-on learner and made it a point to avoid lecturing him since a bored and frustrated Naruto was a troublesome Naruto; something that was especially true when it came to his clones as they seemed to have an even shorter attention span than the original Naruto did at times.

And it was important to keep his clones just as busy as the originals because Naruto's clones played a huge part in his education once his teachers had worked out a schedule that would allow him to use the benefits of the Kage Bunshin without needing to worry about the consequences of over using them. After breakfast every weekday morning, he'd create exactly eighty-five clones that would be assigned various tasks for the day. On the weekends, that number would drop to twenty (in order to allow Naruto's brain two days of near rest).

Fifteen of the clones would work on chakra control exercises for five hours; five to work on Ha no Noudo, another five to work on Kinobori no Waza, and the last five to work on Suimen Hokou no Waza. That was an equivalent of seventy-five hours of chakra control training per day; something that was very important for Naruto due to how large his chakra reserves were. He needed to have excellent control to help him blend in least he draw attention to himself by unleashing a ton of chakra every time he used a technique outside of the Elemental District or when he was overly emotional.

Thirty clones would follow Naruto each morning to his reading and writing lessons with Masao where they would be split into three groups of ten with one group sitting in on Naruto's lesson for the day, the second group sitting off to one side where they would each read a different book, and the final group practicing their penmanship (five working on kanji and the other five working on romaji). Once the first half of Naruto's hour long lesson was over, the thirty clones would work for another half an hour on their assigned tasks with the group that had sat in on Naruto's lesson practicing whatever it was he learned that day before all three groups of clones dispelled.

Another five clones would practice taijutsu for two hours every morning, the first hour after breakfast while Naruto was attending his reading and writing lessons and the second hour alongside the original Naruto when he met with Yoshinori before they dispelled. During the hour they worked alone, each clone would focus on a specific kata or group of katas while during the second hour, they would work on whatever Yoshinori had Naruto working on in order to reinforce his lessons. Those five clones would then wait an hour before dispelling (so as not to disrupt Naruto's math and science lessons since they would transfer their exhaustion to him the moment they dispelled).

The ten clones assigned to work on his math and science (five for each subject) would focus on memorization during the two hours that Naruto was attending his reading and writing lesson and his morning taijutsu practice, the two groups dispelling just before he was due to attend his math or science lessons each day. Hideyoshi would then spend the first ten minutes of each lesson testing Naruto's memory retention before he either started teaching Naruto new material or had him continue working on the same thing his clones had been studying if he was still struggling with that topic.

The next group of twenty five clones Naruto created in the mornings would spend four hours studying current events; five watching the local news, five reading about world news (on the internet; a task that also doubled as a computer lesson), five reading various local and international newspapers and magazines, five watching an assortment of talk shows, and the last five listening to the older residents of the Elemental District gossip while they taught the clones to play Shogi, Go, and a number of other strategy games. At the end of those four hours and after Naruto had eaten lunch; all twenty-five of those clones would join Naruto for his daily history lesson.

Those twenty five clones and the fifteen clones working on chakra control would dispel in groups of five over the first ten minutes of the hour following Naruto's history lessons (which happened to be an hour of free time for Naruto so he could recover from any exhaustion that was passed to him from his clones).

At the end of his short break, Naruto would create twenty-five new clones that would attend his English lessons with him three days a week. All twenty-five of those clones would cover exactly what Naruto covered during those lessons in order to reinforce each lesson to make it easier for Naruto to retain everything he learned during each class. Once he had the basics of the new language down (which would be shortly after his first month of lessons), his clones would be split into five groups of five and each group would work on a different assignment that was relevant to the day's lesson while the original Naruto focused on the day's lesson.

The number of clones that Naruto would be required to make for his physical education lessons would vary from lesson to lesson as Rokuro only had him make enough clones to form enough players to make two full teams for those team sports that the man was teaching Naruto to play. Having Naruto play with and against teams made up entirely of his own clones allowed him to get a feel for each of the different positions in the various sports. It also taught him how to form a cohesive unit with his clones; an ability that would prove invaluable should he ever return to the Elemental Countries.

On the weekends, the twenty clones that Naruto was allowed to make each morning would be split into two groups; fifteen of them to work on five hours of chakra control exercises and the other five to spend two hours alongside of Naruto in taijutsu training. His Saturday physical education lessons would focus on individual activities and physical conditioning exercises in order to negate the need for clones to play additional players. Occasionally, Rokuro would recruit some of the other children living in the Elemental District to participate in group activities on Saturdays in order to allow Naruto to socialize and play with other children.

All of the clones that Naruto had made throughout the day would be finished with their assigned tasks for the day by four in the afternoon when Naruto was released from his English lessons on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays or from his Physical Education lessons on Tuesdays and Thursdays (the last of his morning clones being dispersed two hours earlier). At that point, Naruto had been asked not to create any additional clones for the rest of the day in order to allow his brain time to rest and to absorb everything he'd learned over the course of the day.

This was important because he was adding between two hundred and two hundred fifty hours of training and lessons per day through the use of the clones or roughly between thirteen hundred and fifteen hundred hours per week.

Over the course of his first four months of tutoring and training, Naruto flourished under the positive attention and encouragement he received from everyone living within the Elemental District. His grades improved quickly as his tutors took the time to explain things to him instead of yelling at him, calling him a loser, or kicking him out of class and it soon became apparent that Naruto was a very intelligent child with a very active imagination. His physical health and condition also improved due to a combination of a healthy, balanced diet and regular exercise which saw him gaining another two inches in height (meaning he was no longer quite as far below average for his age group).

More importantly, Naruto grew mentally, emotionally, and socially during those months as the years of verbal, mental, and emotional abuse he'd suffered were gradually buried; the shadows in his eyes fading as he was allowed to be a child for the first time in his life. A small part of the blond still remained wary (his subconscious never completely forgetting the abuse he'd suffered for most of his life) and he couldn't quite trust anyone enough to share the truth about the Kyuubi with them but that didn't stop him from being truly happy during those months.

Outside of his lessons and training, Naruto grew closer to the Sasaki family; becoming something of an older brother to little Kenichi and a nephew of sorts to Izumi and Naoki. He also continued to live with the small family during those four months of training; though it had taken him a couple of weeks to get used to living with others – the eight year old long used to living on his own for the past two years. He soon learned to love living with the family though, the sounds of the others stirring first thing in the morning or of Izumi's softly singing Kenichi to sleep each night a constant reminder that he was not alone.

At the end of those first four months, Naruto would receive an update on the ongoing search for his uncle.

* * *

_Monday, May 24, 1999, Mid-morning  
Hogwarts Castle, Hogsmeade Village, Scotland _

Eighteen year old Harry Potter, sat up and stretched out his back as he took a brief break from the rather grueling revision schedule that Hermione had put together for the two of them in preparation for taking their N.E.W.T.s in just a couple of weeks. The entire school year had been a rather demanding one as he'd needed to learn everything that he'd skipped over or missed out on due to his frequent misadventures during his first six years on top of covering the seventh year material. It was what he had wanted though; to go back to Hogwarts and earn his N.E.W.T.s properly instead of taking the automatic pass that Kingsley Shacklebolt (the newly elected Minster of Magic) had offered to him.

Going back to Hogwarts in order to take his seventh year (which he'd originally missed due to the recent war) had also allowed the decorated war hero to avoid a large percentage of his 'adoring' fans. It had gotten to the point that the young wizard couldn't even show his face in public without being mobbed by people wanting to touch him, beg him for his autograph, thank him (or curse him) for the part he'd played in ending the war, or tell him exactly why he needed to date or marry them or one of their children. At least at Hogwarts, the blind adoration or open disdain had faded after the first couple of months as all of the students got caught up in their studies (many of them required to repeat a year due to the war).

Hermione had, of course, returned to Hogwarts with Harry to take her final year while Ron had opted to accept the automatic passes for his N.E.W.T.s in order to get out of an extra year of classes. The redhead had then turned around and joined the Auror Academy (taking the full three year course of training) and helped his brother George run the joke shop on his off hours. Harry was slated to join the Auror Academy's fast track program after he finished Hogwarts; meaning that he'd finish his auror training the same time as Ron. Shacklebolt had actually offered to bring Harry into the Auror Department as a junior auror right out of Hogwarts but Harry had declined and requested (more like demanded) to go through the training like any other recruit would.

Harry was pulled out of his musings by a playful nudge on the shoulder by Ginny Weasley. The green eyed teen looked up and smiled at his girlfriend; the two of them had gotten back together about a week before Harry's eighteenth birthday. Their relationship had been rather rocky over the course of the past nine months though; the two of them fought at least twice a month over stupid little things. And while Harry still deeply cared for the redheaded firecracker, he was fully aware that he no longer loved her the way he had once thought he had.

He had seen and experienced far too much pain and depravity during the long months that he'd been on the run during what should have been his seventh year and it had changed him.

Just as Ginny's harrowing experiences at the school during her sixth year (under the terrible tutelage of Death Eaters that had partially taken over Hogwarts after the Ministry of Magic had fallen to Voldemort) had changed her.

As the war had changed them all.

The young wizard returned to his studies a moment later, completely unaware that the winds of change were stirring and that his carefully planned out future (which had mostly been planned out by others) was about to be rearranged without any warning.

* * *

**Translations:** Japanese to English

Aika – Japanese girl's name meaning love song  
Ano – um/uh  
Daisuki – Japanese boy's name meaning great help  
Hideyoshi – Japanese boy's name meaning excellent or good  
Jijii – grandfather or old man; in this instance, Naruto is calling Naoki old man and not grandfather since he tends to call all older men he interacts with as old man (even the Hokage but in Sarutobi's case I see it more of him calling Sarutobi grandfather rather than old man despite the fact that all the subtitled ones having him call the Hokage old man).  
Masao – Japanese boy's name meaning righteous man  
Nani – what  
Ojisan/Oji – uncle  
Rokuro – Japanese boy's name meaning sixth son  
Yoshinori – Japanese boy's name meaning excellent model

**Techniques/Skills:**

Bunshin Bakuha – Shadow Clone Explosion  
Ha no Noudo – Leaf Concentration  
Kinobori no Waza – Tree climbing  
Suimen Hokou no Waza – Water walking

**Notes:**

Exchange rates – I am using Naruto canon exchange rate of 1 ryō is equal to 10 yen (this is information that can be found on the Narutopedia Website). I believe this information is also found in the Naruto fan book Hyō no Sho but don't quote me on that because I don't have the book to check for myself.

Here are a few other conversion rates I will use throughout the story (all values are loosely based upon recent google searches and rounded either up or down in order to make calculations and conversions simpler for me):

¥140 is equal to £1  
¥95 is equal to $1.00 USD  
£1 is equal to $1.50 USD  
G1 is equal to £5 (I believe this galleon to pound exchange rate is canon but I was too lazy to look it up on the Lexicon).  
G1 is equal to $7.50 USD  
G1 is equal to ¥700

Technology – DVD players were first available in Japan as early as November 1996, handheld game systems have technically been around since 1979 (by Microvision with the Nintendo Gameboy coming out a decade later), computers and the internet were readily available (if expensive) by the 90's, and while handheld cell phones (with semi-decent service) were just starting to become widely available to the private sector during the 90's, pagers were still far more common at that time; which was why I didn't bother including a cell phone in the tech list.

* * *

**10-24-15:** _Minor edits made to chapter to fix spelling/grammar mistakes and removed unnecessary author's notes._


	4. A Family Found

**Disclaimer:** _All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies and all Naruto characters are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites._

**Warnings:** _AU for parts of both worlds (i.e. kiss canon goodbye), mild character bashing, mild to moderate violence (there are shinobi involved after all), and a few others that will be announced as they crop up. _

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

**Chapter 4: A Family Found**

_Monday, May 24, 1999, Late Afternoon  
Elemental District, Asahikawa, Hokkaido, Japan _

"Come in and have a seat, Naruto-kun," Naoki urged as the blond knocked on the door to announce his presence. "I'll be with you in just a moment."

Naruto slipped into the room and quietly sat down while he waited for the man to finish what he was doing (the endless bouncing and swinging of his legs the only evidence of his once boundless energy to be found). Just a few minutes later, Naoki set aside the paperwork he'd been going through and studied the antsy blond for a moment.

"I called you to my office today because we've finally managed to pinpoint the last known location of your uncle as the town of Cokeworth in Kent, England," Naoki began after he'd finished his visual inspection. "Unfortunately, your uncle and his wife were killed in an automobile accident on August first nineteen-seventy-seven."

"He's dead?" Naruto blurted out in shock as the excitement he'd felt the moment Naoki had said his uncle had been found twisted into grief and utter disappointment.

"I'm sorry, Naruto-kun; I know how much you were looking forward to finding and meeting your uncle. There is still a chance that you have family out there, your uncle and his wife had two daughters; Petunia and Lily. Your cousin Lily vanished shortly after her eleventh birthday in nineteen-seventy-one and is presumed dead as we've not been able to locate any records for her after her disappearance. However, your cousin Petunia married a man by the name of Vernon Dursley on April fifteenth of nineteen-seventy-eight and they have one son named Dursley Dudley who will be nineteen this year. If you'd like, I can try to track them down for you."

Naruto chewed on his lip for a long time before he replied, "Could you please…? They are still family…"

"Of course we will; I'll let you know the moment we find them."

"Thanks, Naoki-jijii."

"You're welcome, Naruto-kun; now get out of here and go burn off some energy."

Naruto laughed and bolted out of the room so he could find a quiet place to think about what he had just learned that afternoon. On one hand, he was happy to know that he still had family out there but on the other hand, he was sad to know that his uncle had died. The man had been the driving force behind his leaving Konoha and he would have been someone that would have understood Naruto due to their shared origins. He was also a bit disappointed to learn that he didn't have any cousins his age.

The eight year old didn't stay depressed for long as he threw himself into his lessons with renewed determination in the hopes that it wouldn't take any where near as long to track down his cousins as it had to find his uncle. His English lessons were given priority now that it was confirmed that he would need to know the language in order to easily communicate with his cousins (since there was no guarantee that Petunia been taught Japanese by his uncle before he died). His history lessons also shifted to focus on England's current affairs and the island nation's history for the last one hundred years.

Six and a half weeks later, Naoki interrupted Naruto's lunch to tell him that they'd tracked down his cousin's family. The man tried to talk the eight year old into writing a letter to the woman to introduce himself but Naruto stubbornly insisted on both introducing himself in person and traveling alone. Naoki eventually caved and helped Naruto prepare for his trip to England (the older man fully aware of just how independent Naruto still was despite his age). He'd at least managed to talk the eight year old out of traveling on foot.

To start with, two identities were created for Naruto; one for his eight year old self (which included changing his last name to Evans) and one for his chaperon which would be played by one of his clones. He then converted all of the money he'd been saving since he arrived from yen to pounds sterling (bar what he'd need to pay for his trip), traded all of his paper ryō for pounds, and had Naoki auction off two complete sets of ryō coins (each set containing one coin of each denomination in mint or near mint condition) to the highest bidders; netting the blond close to two and a half million yen that was then also converted into British pounds (with a small commission being paid to the Elemental District).

Daisuke then took Naruto to purchase a small luggage set (to keep up appearances), a couple sets of nicer clothes, and a bunch of reading books (in both Japanese and English), music CDs, travel games (word searches, crossword puzzles, and sudoku puzzles), and coloring books and colored pencils (he was still a kid after all) to keep him from getting bored during his flight. He also stocked up on cheep (but healthy) snacks and drinks in case he got hungry during the twelve hour flight.

The things that he'd brought with him when he left Konoha were carefully reorganized into a single, larger custom scroll that was eighteen inches tall, nearly eight inches in diameter, and roughly twenty feet in length when unrolled. All of his tracings had then been copied over properly onto smaller scrolls to preserve them before they were individually sealed into storage seals within the larger scroll. The nature of the scroll was then disguised with a thin layer of rice paper that had been painted with water colors; turning the storage scroll into a family heirloom which would allow Naruto to carry it tied to the bottom of his backpack through security and customs with little to no hassle.

* * *

_Friday, July 30, 1999, Afternoon  
Asahikawa Airport, Asahikawa, Hokkaido, Japan _

Naruto climbed out of the taxi with his backpack in hand on the heels of one of his Kage Bunshin wearing a henge that looked suspiciously like Kanzaki Teuchi (the ramen chef from Konoha). He trembled with barely suppressed excitement as he glanced up to watch an airplane flying overhead. While he'd enjoyed the past several months he'd stayed with the Sasaki family, he was really looking forward to meeting _his_ family.

"Come on, Naruto-kun; let's get the two of you checked in," Naoki instructed as he finished paying the taxi driver and stepped beside Naruto and his disguised clone.

Checking in was a fairly simple matter as there wasn't much of a line. All they had to do was confirm their reservations for the next flight to Tokyo International Airport (also known as Haneda Airport), send the two suitcases (filled with a few changes of clothes, extra toiletries, and a few other odds and ends) through the baggage check, and collect their tickets. Naoki then escorted the pair through the airport to their assigned loading terminal and made certain that they had no trouble getting through security before he reluctantly bid the eight year old goodbye.

"Take care, Naruto-kun; call me the moment you arrive in London and get settled in."

"I will, Naoki-jijii," Naruto thickly replied. "Thank you for everything."

"You're welcome, gaki," Naoki replied as he ruffled Naruto's hair before he crouched down and addressed the eight year old in a serious tone. "If things don't work out with your cousin, I want you to know that you're welcome to come back and stay with us. No matter what, you will always have a place in the Elemental District and I hope you'll keep in touch with us; even if you do find a home in England with your relatives."

"I won't ever forget you or my friends here in Asahikawa, dattebayo," Naruto swore as he gave Naoki a large grin and two thumbs up.

Twenty minutes later, Naruto was gripping the armrests of his window seat as the plane rushed down the runway and lifted off the ground. The eight year old whipped his head sideways and stared out the window with wide eyes as the ground fell away. He then let out a gasp of awe as they reached cruising altitude and he saw the entirety of Japan, a good portion of continental Asia, and a large expanse of ocean below him. He almost envied the birds their freedom to see the world from the heavens any time they wanted to but at the same time it was more than a little daunting to see just how large the world truly was with his own eyes.

"Is this your son's first time flying?" the middle aged woman seated in the aisle seat of their row asked of Naruto's adult clone.

"He's not my son; I was appointed by the courts to escort him to his only remaining family," the clone corrected politely using the excuse they'd come up with for his presence as he looked up from the book he was reading. "But yes, this is his first time on an airplane."

"Gomen, I did not mean to assume…"

"Maa, maa; don't worry about it, no harm done."

Naruto and his clone were left to themselves at that point, the woman still a bit embarrassed about her very minor social blunder. Naruto didn't mind as he enjoyed watching the clouds moving in the distance or staring down at the world below them. Sadly, the small hop from Asahikawa to Tokyo was no where near long enough and before Naruto was ready, the plane was circling around the airport as it dropped lower. He nearly started hyperventilating when he saw just how large the capital city of Japan was in comparison to Asahikawa and the other nearby towns and cities that he'd visited over the past few months.

Sure, he'd seen pictures of large cities but pictures didn't quite capture the sheer size of the sprawling metropolis spread out beneath the plane.

He avoided a panic attack by reminding himself that he didn't have to actually set foot in the city as he only had a three hour layover in Tokyo before he boarded the plane that would take him to Great Britain. All thoughts about the size of Tokyo flew out of the eight year old's mind when he was introduced to the crowded halls of Haneda Airport; he was far too busy trying to figure out where he needed to go next and almost wishing he'd not been quite so determined to travel alone. Thankfully, the airport staff were happy to give him directions (or rather they gave his clone directions) and the two of them went through the check in process a second time (their luggage being transported over separately).

The eight year old took a small side trip to the bathroom to replace his clone (since it had taken a few hits as they walked through the airport and Naruto feared the next accidental shove might dispel the clone or the henge it wore) before he all but plastered himself to the window in the waiting area so he could watch the planes take off and land. He couldn't wait to for his next flight to take off; the blond eager to see what the world looked like from the sky during the night (the sun had set shortly after their first flight had landed.

Naruto's temporary guardian (his clone) drew him away from the window forty-five minutes before they were due to board their flight and reminded him to eat the bento that Izumi had given to him before he left. When he opened up the beautifully carved wooden bento box she'd packed the meal in (a gift from the kind woman), Naruto felt a lump form in his throat as he found three onigiri decorated to look like Kenichi, Daisuki, and Naruto in addition to the chilled shrimp, a small garden salad, and a couple of Naruto's favorite cookies. Taped to the top of the lid in a protective plastic cover, was Izumi's family recipe for salt ramen.

Wiping the moisture from his eyes, Naruto dug into the delicious meal with gusto after carefully transferring the sacred recipe for the food of the gods into his backpack where he knew it wouldn't get lost. He'd place it with the dozens of other ramen recipes he'd diligently gathered later (there was no denying that the blond was utterly obsessed with ramen and completely devoted to devouring as many different types of ramen as possible). Being able to make such heavenly food whenever he wanted (thanks to the recipes and cooking lessons from Izumi) was just an added bonus.

Naruto finished his meal and wiped out the bento box with a couple of napkins (to keep it from growing mold or starting to smell of rotten food since it would be a while before he could wash the box out) just five minutes before one of the flight attendants announced that his flight would begin boarding those individuals seated in first class and those traveling with children. Naruto and his clone were two of the first people to line up; the eight year old vibrating with excitement as their tickets were checked and they were allowed to enter the jetway leading to the plane.

The moment he found their seats, Naruto tucked his backpack beneath the seat in front of him, put on his seatbelt (so he wouldn't forget later) and plastered his face back to the window as he stared out at the glaring lights of the city in the distance. Naruto was twitching with impatience ten minutes later as the other passengers were still looking for their seats, stowing their belongings, and sitting down. He wouldn't settle down until the airplane began taxing out to the runway while the flight attendants gave the same safety demonstration they'd given on his first flight. Naruto barely listened to them as he kept craning his neck back and forth so he could see as much of the darkened landscape and bright lights as possible.

And then they were speeding down the runway and lifting off the ground once more and Naruto would spend most of the flight with his face once more glued to the window. He barely pulled his attention away from the view (even when there was nothing to see but dark clouds and the stars) to eat the in-flight meal (Naruto eating both his meal and the clone's since there was really no point in the clone eating). His clone, on the other hand, spent the flight working on the sudoku puzzles, watching the in-flight movie, and pretending to keep an eye on the original Naruto.

If anyone who had known Naruto prior to his leaving Konoha had seen him sitting quietly and practically unmoving as he stared out the window, they would have immediately assumed that he was an imposter because Naruto never sat still.

At least he hadn't prior to spending time in the Elemental District where his boundless energy had been given an abundance of outlets so that he wasn't quite so hyper all of the time. Oh, he still tended to be constantly in motion ninety percent of the time (especially when he was excited) but he could now actually sit still for hours at a time without feeling completely restless simply because his days had been filled with tons of activities. His attention span had also increased due to the increase in physical and mental activities and his growing control over his abundance of chakra.

It was now quite easy for him to focus for an hour at a time before he grew bored with the time exponentially increasing for those topics or activities that he found interesting (such as enjoying the view outside of the plane's window or completing sudoku puzzles – he absolutely loved number games and recognizing the patterns in groups of numbers came easy to him).

Naruto almost let out a whine when the captain announced that they were approaching Heathrow International Airport in London, England (another overwhelmingly large city). The only thing that stopped him from voicing a complaint, was the fact that he'd been sitting still for far too long and now that he was no longer so focused on the view, he was beginning to feel the need to move set in (he had been sitting still for an abnormally long period of time). He was once again twitching with impatience by the time the plane touched down and began heading towards the terminal gate.

The hour and a half it took to get through customs once they were allowed off the plane didn't help and a number of the other passengers glared at him in annoyance while a few of the more understanding passengers actually allowed Naruto's clone and Naruto to cut in front of them. The familiar cold glares he'd received from a number of people that had little patience for children actually helped him calm down as it brought back painful memories of living in Konoha.

They were met just outside of the customs area by the taxi driver that Naoki had arranged to meet him at the airport (to save Naruto the need to try and flag down a taxi in the rush of people coming and going). The man helped them navigate through the maze that was Heathrow so they could pick up Naruto's luggage before they headed outside to where the cab driver had parked his car. The ride to the hotel where Naruto would be staying for a couple of days (to allow him to adjust to the time differences and to get a feel for the new culture he was entering) was made in complete silence as the eight year old stared out the car window at the sheer number of buildings, people, and cars that appeared everywhere he looked despite the time of night (which was after midnight London time).

By the time they had arrived at the hotel, paid the cab fare, checked into the hotel, and unlocked their room, Naruto was exhausted despite the fact that he hadn't really done anything but sit around for the last eighteen or twenty hours. The eight year old hung up the do-not-disturb on the door (to let the hotel staff know not to wake him up in the morning), locked the door, dismissed his clone, changed into his pajamas, and crawled into bed. He was asleep before his head hit the pillow and would not wake up until well after noon the next day.

After taking a shower and washing out his bento box, Naruto created eight new clones and set seven of them to working on chakra control exercises (one in the tub to work on Suimen Hokou no Waza, five to climb the walls for Kinobori no Waza, and one to practice Ha no Noudo using a bunch of leaves he'd stored in storage scrolls before he'd left the Elemental District. The final clone used the henge to take the form of his temporary guardian so he could call the front desk to ask the staff on duty to call for a taxi. Before he left with his faux guardian, Naruto reminded the clones that he was leaving behind to hide if the maid came in while he were gone.

The eight year old then headed down to the lobby to wait for his ride, taking the time to ask a couple of the workers where there was a good place to get some Japanese food (specifically ramen). Armed with the names of three restaurants to try, Naruto bravely stepped outside of the hotel to face Greater London as his taxi arrived. His first stop was the first of the recommended restaurants for lunch (Naruto had his priorities after all). After three bowls of what he considered inferior ramen, Naruto and his clone paid for their food and slipped outside to find an out of the way place where he could call up a few dozen Kage Bunshin without anyone seeing him.

Half an hour later, the bird population of London jumped by two hundred in the blink of an eye as dozens of crows, sparrows, starlings, and pigeons took the air. Naruto and his 'guardian' then spent the rest of the afternoon doing touristy things; like visiting Hyde Park so Naruto could burn off some energy. After the sunset, the pair went to the second Japanese restaurant that had been recommended to him and he had six bowls of some tasty beef ramen (though it still fell short of Izumi's heavenly salt ramen).

Once Naruto finished his ramen, the two of them took a nighttime tour via taxi of some of the more notable landmarks in the area (Big Ben and the London Eye two such places) before they returned to their hotel for the evening. He'd fall asleep shortly after returning when the fatigue his clones had built up doing the chakra control exercises for most of the hit him. The next day, Naruto would stay in the hotel room all day working on his taijutsu katas, chakra control exercises, and sorting through his memories from the clones that had been out exploring the city all night long as they dispersed in groups of five every ten to fifteen minutes.

If he hadn't been so nervous about meeting his cousins the next day, he might have spent the day sightseeing again but he couldn't really bring himself to face the city while his stomach was all tied up in knots. Before he went to sleep that night, he made certain to seal all of his belongings bar his backpack into a scroll (including his suitcases) so he wouldn't leave anything behind by mistake.

* * *

_Monday, August 02, 1999, Late Morning  
No. 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey, England_

Naruto nervously hovered behind the Kage Bunshin wearing the face of his chosen 'guardian' while he waited for someone to answer the door. He'd arrived at the address that Naoki had provided him just a few minutes earlier and his stomach felt like he'd swallowed a ton of rocks; all heavy and knotted. Before he could work himself into a complete panic, the door was opened by a thin woman with a rather long neck, dark blonde hair liberally streaked with gray, and blue eyes that were washed out in comparison to Naruto's vibrant sapphire orbs.

"Good morning," Naruto's clone greeted neutrally as the woman gave the pair of them a rather plastic smile while her eyes flashed with annoyance (making the real Naruto tense up).

"Whatever it is you are selling, we are not interested," the woman snapped as her fake smile immediately became a scowl for some reason.

"My apologies, I am not selling anything; I am looking for a Dursley Petunia, formerly Evans Petunia, and was given this address."

"What do you want?"

"My charge wished to meet with you and your family since according to our records, you are his only surviving family."

"What!?" Petunia all but screeched as her eyes bugged out. "No. No, that's impossible; I have no other family."

"I have valid documentation proving that this young man is your father's nephew…"

"Shush…" Petunia hissed vehemently as she leaned out and glanced up and down the street before roughly pulling both the clone and Naruto into the house and slamming the door shut. "Have you no decency? Showing up here without so much as a by-your-leave or a warning only to start spouting lies while standing in full view of the entire neighborhood! My father was an only child!"

"I have birth certificates…"

"I don't care! I already dealt with one ungrateful brat that was dumped on my porch; I'm not about to deal with another!"

"Like I'd want to live with an ugly old hag like you anyway," Naruto snapped as he glared at the woman that was supposedly one of his only living family members; his heart hurting with the knowledge that his cousin could be so cruel. "I only wanted to meet you because you were family."

"How dare you call me names you… you wretched brat!"

"You started it, you stupid hag," Naruto's clone disguised clone maturely pointed out.

Petunia spluttered indignantly for several seconds before she lashed out and slapped Naruto's clone across the face; the blow hard enough to dispel the Kage Bunshin in a cloud of smoke. The woman let out a strangled scream as her eyes went even wider and her hands flew up to cover her mouth in utter horror. The expression on her face then turned positively ugly as she fixed her eyes on the startled Naruto (the eight year old had not expected the woman to actually hit his clone, let alone hit it hard enough to dispel it).

"Freak! Demon! Monster!" Petunia exclaimed in a hissing screech. "How dare you pollute my home with your unnaturalness!" The woman then began wringing her hands as a fearful look passed over her face. "They'll know… just like they knew when they dropped that other ungrateful wretch on our porch! I'll not have it…! Not again! But they will be watching. They are always watching. What will I do..? I won't keep another filthy freak in the house. I won't!"

The woman paced back and forth, practically frothing at the mouth as she rubbed at her face and neck with frantic hands every so often. Naruto remained frozen in the middle of the hallway; the woman currently standing between him and the only exit he was aware of. Fear coiled in the blond's belly as the woman finally recalled his presence and she reached out, grabbed him by the scruff of the neck unexpectedly, and half dragged, half pushed him down the hall.

"Vernon will know what to do; he'll fix everything this time. I'll call him right now," Petunia babbled as she stopped beside a small door in the middle of the hallway, opened the door, and shoved Naruto inside what turned out to be a rather small closet before she slammed the door shut and locked the door behind him. "You stay right there you wretched little monster! My husband will deal with you when he gets home."

Naruto fell back against the wall and slid down onto the floor before he curled up on himself and tried not to cry as reality crashed down around him; he was trapped in a closet in the house of a crazy woman and no one knew he was there (aside from a handful of people back in Japan). Maybe he should have listened to Naoki and written a letter first.

Naruto had no idea how long he'd been locked in the small closet before he heard a door slam open and an angry voice bellow out as the house fairly shook under heavy footsteps, "Where'd you stash the new freak, Pet?"

"I locked him in the cupboard; I didn't know what else to do with him," Petunia whined frantically, her tone borderline hysterical.

"Did any of the neighbors see him?"

"I don't know. I don't think anyone saw him or the other freak that dropped him off but I can't be sure. They caught me off guard this morning when they showed up out of the blue. What are we going to do, Vernon?"

"We'll get rid of him. We might not have been able to dump the last brat on the streets to live in the gutter where he belonged but there's nothing to stop us from ditching the newest freak; that ruddy Dumbfeldork bloke is dead. We'll keep the boy in the cupboard until the weekend and then I'll take him up north and throw him in the river or something."

"Are you sure it will be safe to wait that long?"

"Yes, I don't want him to end up somewhere too close because he's liable to find his way back here again and bring more of the freaks with him. I'll run to the store and pick up a few more locks to for the door to keep him from using his freakishness to get out like the boy did. I'll shove the couch in front of the door for now just in case he tries any funny business while I'm gone. I'll pick up some take away for supper on the way back so you won't have to worry about cooking."

"Thank you, dear; I don't know what I would do without you, Vernon."

The man, Vernon, grunted in response before a loud scraping sound was heard as a fairly large piece of furniture was position in front of the door to the closet. Naruto sank even deeper into despair as he wrapped his arms around his legs and pressed his face into his knees; his relatives not only hated his guts but they were talking about killing him. Knowing that it was his relatives, his own flesh and blood, that were speaking of him in that way (when they really didn't know him) hurt far worse than anything the villagers of Konoha had said or done to him. He eventually drifted off to sleep as a steady stream of tears trickled down his face.

He snapped awake sometime later when he heard something heavy being shoved aside followed by several unfamiliar curse words and unrecognizable sounds. A moment later, a grinding whir sounded as someone did something to the door to Naruto's makeshift prison. It took a moment for the eight year old to realize that Vernon must have returned from the store and that the man was probably installing the locks he'd spoken of buying.

Angry over the way he was being treated, Naruto launched himself at the door and began pounding on it as he demanded, "Let me out of here, teme!"

"Shut up, freak, or I'll bury you out in the backyard until I can get rid of your body!"

Naruto recoiled in horror over the threat and immediately stuffed himself in the smallest corner of the closet in the hopes that he'd be overlooked if the man actually attempted to carry out his threat. Once the man was finished doing whatever it was he was doing to the door, he stomped off. He tensely sat huddled up beneath the slanted and uneven roof of the closet for several hours listening to the muted sounds that floated to his prison from somewhere else in the house before pounding footsteps shook the ceiling as they traveled upwards.

Silence settled over the entire house not long after that and Naruto sniffled a bit as he tightened his arms around his knees and tried not to think about the fact that his relatives somehow already knew about the Kyuubi (they'd called him a demon, after all) and that they intended to kill him. He eventually drifted off to sleep once more where he was plagued by old and new nightmares until the faint sound of metal scraping against metal dragged him back into consciousness. Two minutes later, the door to the closet silently swung open as a small triangle of light pierced the gloom within.

"Hey, kid; are you alright?" a voice asked in a low volume that wouldn't carry very far and Naruto couldn't help the small whimper that escaped as he pressed himself further backwards when a blond head appeared and began searching the closet for him. "Hey, don't be afraid; I promise I'm not going to hurt you. I'm really sorry about the way my parents are treating you; they've been like that for as long as I can remember and they only got worse after the war."

The person soon caught sight of Naruto huddled in the back of the closest and the look on his face grew sad when Naruto didn't say anything. The boy or possibly young man then sighed and glanced upwards before he sat down in the doorway and leaned back against the door jam.

"I suppose I can't blame you for not trusting me; I wouldn't trust me either if I'd had to put up with all of the things that mum and dad said and did. I'd really, really like to help you though. I already sent off a letter to Harry in the hopes that he'll be able to come get you before dad carries out his threats."

"Who's Harry and… and are you Dursley Dudley?" Naruto tentatively asked as the unfamiliar name immediately caught his attention.

"Harry's my cousin… well, I suppose he'd be your cousin too if you really are mum's cousin like that man said you were this morning; he's Aunt Lily's son. And yes, I'm Dudley Dursley. Is there a reason why you keep saying our names backwards?"

"Gomen… er, sorry, I keep forgetting that first and last names are mixed up in English; I'm still learning to speak your language."

"Don't sweat the small stuff kid; it's not that big of a deal. What language do you usually speak if it's not English?"

"Japanese; I was born just outside of Japan. Did you say the Harry guy you mentioned earlier was Lily's son? Wasn't Lily Petunia's younger sister? I thought she died when she was eleven, how could she have a kid if she died when she was just a kid?"

"Aunt Lily had Harry before she died when I was still a baby. Harry was just a few months younger than I was at the time and he came here to live with mum and dad. That's kind of cool that you're from Japan. One of these days I'd love to travel around the world and visit different countries."

Naruto shrugged in response and relaxed a bit as he slowly grew comfortable in the older boy's presence.

"So, what's your name?" Dudley asked after the two of them stared at each other in the dim light for several minutes.

"Uzu… er, Evans Naruto."

"Narto would be your first name, right?"

"Hai… er, yes; Na-ru-to, is my first name," Naruto corrected even as he nodded.

"It's really nice to meet you, Naruto. Could you tell me what it was you said before said your name? Oo-zoo, I think it was."

"I almost used my mother's last name because that's what I thought my last name was for a long time until I learned about my father and his uncle. Her name was Uzumaki Kushina."

"Where are your parents?"

"They died when I was just a baby."

"You really do have quite a bit in common with Harry," Dudley stated in surprise as he shifted just enough for the light to illuminate his pale blue eyes. "My mum and dad stuffed him in this cupboard when he was little too and he can do all kinds of cool tricks and stuff but my parents can't stand the things he does. Anyway, what do you say we get you out of here so you can go to the bathroom and clean up while I fix you a little something to eat? You can stay in my room with me until we hear from Harry."

"Won't you get in trouble for letting me out?" Naruto asked skeptically as he eyed his cousin.

"Only if they find out but they won't even check to make certain you're still there if I lock the cupboard back up once you're out. You'll just need to be really quiet or else mum and dad will hear you and there's no telling how they'll react to finding you out of the cupboard."

Naruto studied the older boy for a full minute before he crawled towards him; he really didn't want to stay in the closet any longer.

* * *

**Translations:** Japanese to English

Gaki – brat  
Gomen/Gomen nasai – I'm sorry  
Hai – yes  
Maa, maa – now, now or there, there (a phrase used to placate someone)  
Teme – bastard/jerk (rude way of saying you)

**Techniques/Skills:**

Ha no Noudo – Leaf Concentration  
Henge no Jutsu – Transformation technique  
Kage Bunshin no Jutsu – Shadow Clone  
Kinobori no Waza – Tree climbing  
Suimen Hokou no Waza – Water walking

**Notes:**

Naruto's brief imprisonment – I can hear people screaming from here about the fact that Naruto should have been able to escape from the cupboard in a heartbeat using his clones or a jutsu or some other shinobi skill. My reasoning for not having done so (aside from developing the plot) involves the fact that he was blindsided by Petunia's hatred and insanity (without any warning) and he was more than a little shocked by her extreme reaction to both his very existence and to the 'death' of his clone.

He's also an _eight_ year old kid who has just learned that his relatives want to 'kill' or 'dispose' of him (something he thinks they've done before due to the things Petunia said about dealing with 'another one') and he basically froze up. Much like a _twelve_ year old Naruto froze when Team Seven encountered the Demon Brothers in canon during the Wave Mission.

* * *

**10-24-15:** _Minor edits made to chapter to fix spelling/grammar mistakes and removed unnecessary author's notes._


	5. Temper, Temper

**Disclaimer:** _All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies and all Naruto characters are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites._

**Warnings:** _AU for parts of both worlds (i.e. kiss canon goodbye), mild character bashing, mild to moderate violence (there are shinobi involved after all), and a few others that will be announced as they crop up. _

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

**Chapter 5: Temper, Temper**

_Thursday, August 05, 1999, Early Evening  
Hogsmeade Village, Scotland_

Harry whistled a merry tune as he dusted the soot from his dress robes, waved cheerfully to Madam Rosmerta, and made his way out of the Three Broomsticks to meet Ginny at Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop. In his pocket he carried a velvet box that held a rather expensive diamond engagement ring; the nineteen year old wizard intended to propose to his long time girlfriend. He wasn't really ready to propose but he was feeling pressured by the entire Weasley family (mostly by Ginny herself) and he figured an early and subsequently long engagement (since he was due to start auror training in less than a month) would at least get them off his back.

He'd barely gone five steps passed the pub's front door when an eagle owl dropped down out of the sky with a screech and began circling his head. Harry frowned as he offered his arm to the agitated bird the moment he saw the envelop it held clutched in its beak. The bird landed but refused to release the letter it held until Harry paid the postage fee (a huge red stamp declaring the amount of postage due emblazoned on the front of the envelope). Harry stuffed the required two sickles and eight knuts into the pouch the owl had tied to its leg before tossing the bird off into the air once it had relinquished the letter it had brought him.

A glance at the return address on the front of the envelope had the green-eyed wizard arching an eyebrow in surprise with the other eyebrow joining the first when he noticed the word urgent had been scrawled messily beneath his name on the front. His brow then furrowed as he tried to think of any reason why his cousin would contact him (they weren't exactly friends after all); especially about something that the other teen thought needed to be addressed immediately. Shrugging his shoulders, Harry checked the time to make certain he wasn't late for his date before he leaned against the wall, ripped open the envelope, and pulled out the short letter inside that had been dated some three days earlier.

_Harry,_

_I need your help. A man showed up today with a kid that claims he's related to us  
and mum freaked out really bad. The man disappeared and left the kid behind and  
mum's gone and locked him in your old cupboard all the while ranting on about  
freaks and monsters and how she won't have another in the house. _

_I need you to come fetch the kid before mum and dad hurt him. I'm going to spring  
him once they've gone to sleep but I don't know how long I can hide him before they  
realize what I've done and I don't have anywhere else I can take him right now. So,  
please contact me as soon as possible and let me know if you can take him or not._

_Dudley_

Harry paled in concern as he sprang away from the wall before fury surged through him at the thought of Petunia and Vernon potentially treating another child the way they'd treated him. All thoughts of his date and the ring sitting heavy in his pocket were forgotten as he spun around on his heel and apparated directly into the backyard of No. 4 Privet Drive. His holly wand practically jumped into his hand as he stormed up to the back door. When he reached the door, Harry didn't even bother to knock as he blasted the door open with a flick of his wand; startling both his aunt and uncle as the door slammed open hard enough to crack it in half.

"Get out! Get out! _Get out_!" Petunia shrieked the moment she caught sight of Harry dressed in elaborate wizard's robes with his wand out and in plain sight.

"Put a sock in it you dried up old hag," Harry snapped as he flicked his wand at the woman and silenced her before he knocked her back into the chair with a weak banishing charm and wrapped her up in ropes. Vernon received the same treatment when the man made to charge at Harry. "I'm not exactly in the best of moods right now so you'll need to forgive me if I'm a little short with you because I had to jump all the way down here from Scotland in order to protect another innocent from your sick and twisted perception of normal."

"The two of you had better not have harmed a single hair on the kid's head or so help me I will personally teach you a lesson you won't soon forget. If you didn't want to take him in or have anything to do with him all you had to do was contact me and I would have gladly come to collect him or you could have allowed him to leave. I'm not surprised that you resorted to your freakishly unnatural behavior though; seeing as how terribly you treated me for _years_ before you began to fear that I would use what I learned to pay you back for all of the abuse."

At that point, Dudley burst into the room carrying a cricket bat. The bigger teen immediately skidded to a halt and lowered the bat he held the instant he recognized Harry standing in the middle of the kitchen. The blond sagged as he gave Harry a shaky smile and declared, "Boy am I ever glad to see you, Harry. I was beginning to fear that you wouldn't get my letter in time and dad was planning to take the kid and dump him in a river this weekend."

Vernon's eyes bugged out and he began thrashing about in his bindings over that small revelation. Harry scowled at the man before hitting him with a stunner to prevent the man from giving himself a heart attack.

"I dropped everything and rushed straight here right after I got your letter just a few minutes ago," Harry explained as he lifted his left hand to show the crumpled letter and envelope in question. "Where's this mysterious little cousin your letter mentioned? Were you able to get him out of the cupboard?"

"Naruto is upstairs in my room; I told him to hide when we heard the door burst open since I wasn't exactly expecting you to show up with a bang tonight. And, yeah, I busted him out of the cupboard on the first night; I couldn't stand the thought of him having to stay in there like you did."

"Glad to hear it. If you'll go fetch him for me, since he knows you already, I'll just explain a few things to my _favorite_ aunt and uncle while I wait for you."

"I know you don't like them much but don't hurt them; they aren't worth it, Harry."

"I don't plan on it… but I will be altering their memories so that they'll forget all about the kid and so that they don't give you grief about breaking him out or contacting me."

"Don't bother, let them keep their memories. I was planning on moving into the flat that my girlfriend and I are in the process of leasing soon and once she hears about what they were going to do to our little cousin, she'll insist I move in with her family now. I've already packed up most of my stuff while I was waiting for you to reply to my letter. I would have just taken Naruto with me to my girlfriend's but there just isn't room at her parent's tiny place and their landlord is a right berk."

"If you'd like, I can give you a hand packing up the rest of your stuff," Harry offered as the worst of his anger began fading now that he knew the kid hadn't been hurt.

"You wouldn't mind?"

"Not in the least; so long as you don't mind me using my freaky hocus pocus to help."

Dudley laughed weakly over the rather poor joke before he replied, "Come on up to my room then and I'll introduce you to Naruto at the same time. And, no, I don't mind if you use a bit of magic; so long as I don't end up with another tail or overlarge tongue."

Harry snorted in return before he nodded and flicked his wand at Petunia once more to knock her out for the moment as he trailed out of the kitchen after Dudley. As they moved down the hall, Harry scowled at the cupboard under the stairs and flicked his wand at the door that was locked shut with at least twenty-five locks (including a few padlocks); turning the door to sawdust and the locks to puddles of metal. Dudley jumped in surprise in response to the unexpected show of magic before he snickered over the resulting mess.

Just a couple of minutes later, Harry slowed to a stop in the doorway leading into Dudley's room as the taller teen called out to the well hidden child, "Hey, Naruto, you can come on out now; there's nothing to worry about. Harry arrived just now with a bit more bang than expected."

A head of sunshine yellow hair poked up from beneath the bed and Harry soon found himself looking into a pair of worried deep blue eyes set into a lightly tanned face that sported a trio of whisker marks on each cheek. Harry had only a few seconds to inspect the kid before his attention was drawn back to Dudley as the other teen provided introductions.

"Harry, meet Naruto Evans; our eight year old cousin from Grandpa Evans' side of the family. Naruto, this here is Harry Potter; he'll be taking you somewhere safer than here. If that's alright with both of you?"

"I wouldn't be here otherwise," Harry automatically replied as he continued his earlier inspection. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Naruto; though I wish I could have spared you the trouble of dealing with Petunia and Vernon's pettiness."

"You don't look anything like Kic… er, like Uncle Gregory," Naruto accused with a slight frown.

"Ah, that would be because I'm the spitting image of my father aside from my eyes. I got my eyes from my mum."

"Oh. Where are you going to take me and what are you going to do with me?"

"We'll be staying at the Burrow with the Weasleys, Hermione, and Teddy; you can bunk with Teddy in the temporary nursery for tonight and Mrs. Weasley will love having another kid around to mother. We'll figure out what happens after that in a few days once we've had a chance to get to know one another."

"Who're Teddy, Her-mii-o-nii, and the… the weasels?"

"Hermione is the smartest person I know and my very best friend, Mrs. Weasley and the rest of the Weasleys are very close friends of mine and my second family, and Teddy is my godson."

"How old is Teddy? Does he live with you?"

"Teddy is only fifteen months old and yes, he now lives with me full time; his parents died shortly after he was born and his grandmother's health recently took a turn for the worst a month and a half ago and she is too sick to take care of him anymore. We should probably get moving though, before the two old windbags downstairs wake up and give me another headache with their perpetual bellyaching. Where are your things? Did Petunia or Vernon take them and lock them up somewhere?"

"They never touched my stuff and everything I have is in my backpack."

"That's good; I was worried they might have destroyed your things. If you'll come stand over here against the wall by me where you'll be out of the way, I'll help Dudley pack the last of his things before we head out. Where did you want me to put everything, Dudders, and did you want me to pack the furniture for you as well?"

"I have the boxes over here and you'd better leave the furniture, mum and dad will be mad enough about me moving out and helping the two of you; I think it would be best not add thieving to the list of my 'crimes' right now."

"Alright, best move back a bit," Harry instructed as he stepped into the center of the room. He then concentrated on gathering all of Dudley's belongings as he snapped his wand hand sharply and firmly ordered, "_Pack_!"

Naruto and Dudley both gasped simultaneously as everything in the room (and several items that were not in the room) jumped up off the floor, crawled out of the various furniture, and flew through the air before tucking themselves into the indicated boxes. Three minutes later, the room was bare of everything bar the furniture and the small stack of boxes had been sealed shut and neatly stacked beside the door.

"_Sugoi_!" Naruto exclaimed as his eyes danced with excitement.

Harry gave the kid a dramatic bow as he grinned at the kid's enthusiasm before he straightened up as a thoughtful look crossed over his face. He then called out three summoning charms in a row, "_Accio_ Harry Potter's property. _Accio_ Lily Evans' property. _Accio_ Lily Potter's property." Moments later (following on the heels of a few loud bangs and crashes), several boxes, a couple of trunks, and a number of pieces of jewelry zoomed into the room to land in a pile at Harry's feet. "I had hoped I was wrong but I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that Petunia hoarded things that rightfully belonged to me and my mother."

The wizard quickly shrank the boxes and trunks and tucked everything into his pocket before he turned to address Dudley one last time, "Thank you for thinking of contacting me, Dudley; you'll have to send me your new address once you get settled so we can get together and catch up over tea sometime. I'm sure Naruto here would like to keep in touch with his savior as well."

"I'd like that," Dudley stated as he walked up to Harry and offered the wizard his hand. "I appreciate you dropping everything like you did to help the two of us out."

"Not a problem; anything for family. Speaking of which, your parents should wake up in a few hours and the Silencing Charms will eventually wear off on their own. I'll send them a howler to yell at them some more later, since I didn't get to say everything I planned to say before you interrupted my rant. Are you ready to go, Naruto?"

"Do you need a lift into London? I'll be going that way anyway since my girl lives on the northern side of town."

"Thanks for the offer but we're actually headed in the opposite direction so we'll just take the Knight Bus to Ottery St. Catchpole."

"I'll see the two of you later then," Dudley replied as he turned from Harry to ruffle Naruto's hair. "Take care of yourself, runt."

Naruto grinned and hugged Dudley around the waist before he bounced over to Harry, his earlier reluctance and distrust no longer evident in his eyes. Harry chuckled and felt the last of the worry that had been knotting his chest since he'd received Dudley's note unwind with the knowledge that his little cousin (and how strange it was to learn he'd had even more relatives out there) had not been harmed thanks to Dudley's intervention. The green-eyed wizard then led the way through the house and took a moment to cast a dust magnet jinx and an ant attraction charm on the house (to torment his aunt for a week or two until the magic in the spells faded) as they boldly walked out the front door.

He then took perverse satisfaction in purposefully walking on the lawn (completely ignoring the walkway) and through the flower beds that lined the driveway. It was childish and petty of him but he didn't really care right that moment. Once they reached the sidewalk, Harry glanced down at the kid walking beside him as he wondered how the kid had ended up at the Dursleys in the first place and where his parents were. Figuring that it would be best to save his questions until the kid felt a little more comfortable with him, Harry shelved that line of thinking as he automatically snagged Naruto's hand with his when they reached the end of Privet Drive and crossed over to Magnolia Crescent.

He felt Naruto jump in surprise the moment their hands connected and Harry looked down in concern only to find the kid beaming up at him with bright blue eyes. Harry offered a smile in return as he guided the boy towards the empty and somewhat rundown park where he'd once taunted Dudley during the summer between his fourth and fifth years at Hogwarts. Once they arrived outside of the park, Harry glanced up and down the street and at each of the houses that were close by before he stuck out his wand to call the Knight Bus. The garish purple bus appeared with a bang just a few minutes later and Naruto jumped and ducked behind Harry before peeking around to stare at the huge contraption with wide eyes.

"Sorry 'bout that, Naruto; I forgot how startling the Knight Bus can be if you aren't expecting it," Harry apologized as the doors to the bus opened and a young woman in her late twenties stepped down to greet them.

"Welcome to the Knight Bus; emergency transportation for the stranded witch or wizard.*"

"Evening, one adult and one child for the Burrow in Ottery St. Catchpole," Harry stated in a slightly strained voice as the memory of the last time he'd seen Stan Shunpike (the former conductor of the Knight Bus) flashed before his eyes; the gossip loving wizard glassy eyed under the influence of the Imperius Curse as he chased after Harry and Hagrid on Voldemort's orders the night he'd left Privet Drive just before his seventeenth birthday. The man had not survived that night; he'd been cut down by another Death Eater's Killing Curse when he got in the way at the last second.

"That'll be fifteen sickles, nineteen sickles if you want us to include two cups of hot chocolate, and twenty-three sickles for a pair of water bottles and two toothbrushes in your choices of colors."

Harry passed over a single galleon and accepted two sickles back in change (the nineteen year old knew better than to buy a drink while using the Knight Bus and he had no need for extra toothbrushes). He then shuffled Naruto up to the empty second level before the witch recognized him and warned the kid to hold on tight as they sat down on a single bed. The eight year old stared at him funny until the magical bus jumped into motion with a loud bang and the kid nearly flipped backwards off the bed due to the unexpected jolt.

Once he got over his shock, Naruto whooped with glee each time the bus jumped locations and their bed flew across the floor to crash into the other beds or the walls of the bus. The young war veteran felt the knot of grief and guilt he been carrying around for the last two years ease a touch as he watched his young cousin finding pleasure in something as simple as shifting beds (much as it did when he spent time with Teddy). The pout Naruto adopted when their stop was announced over an hour later made Harry chuckle as they trooped down the stairs and climbed down off the bus. The bus vanished with a loud crack almost as soon as they were off.

"Can we ride the purple bus again, Potter-san?" Naruto inquired as he bounced excitedly on the balls of his feet and stared at the place where the Knight Bus had been sitting just seconds earlier.

"You can call me Harry," Harry absently stated as he grinned at the eight year old in bemusement. "And I can guarantee that we'll ride the Knight Bus fairly frequently when it is just you and I traveling from place to place as you are a bit too young for me to take you with me when I apparate and Teddy is far too young to ride the bus."

"Cool!" Naruto crowed as he jumped up and punched the air before he glanced around at the rather empty countryside where they'd been dropped off in the middle of a dirt lane. "Ano, Pot… Harry-san, were we supposed to end up in the middle of nowhere?"

"Yes, the Burrow, which just so happens to be one of my three most favorite places to be, is just a ten minute walk down the lane. What does the word you keep saying after my name mean?"

"Catherine-sensei called it an on-or-if-ic and a sign of respect. She also said it is the same as saying mister or missus in English," Naruto answered as he stumbled over the pronunciation of the word 'honorific'.

"Oh, in that case, you don't have to add san to my name; I'd much prefer it if you just called me plain old Harry," Harry insisted as he led Naruto towards the Burrow. "I've heard the word sensei used before… it means teacher doesn't it?"

"Yes. Do you know some Japanese then?"

"Not really, I just know a few words that I picked up from the shows that Dudley used to watch when he was younger. Do you speak Japanese fluently?"

"Yeah, I was born just outside of Japan. I didn't start learning English until earlier this year when I met Naoki-jijii."

"Really? You speak the language very well for someone who just started learning it."

"Thanks," Naruto murmured shyly while a light flush of pleased embarrassment colored his face. The kid's jaw then dropped to his knees as the Burrow came into sight. "That house is falling over!"

"It sure looks that way, doesn't it? I know I thought the same thing the first time I saw the Burrow but it's been standing for decades now. Don't let its appearance bother you too much; it's much studier than it looks," Harry declared as he let them in through the gate and directed the blond towards the kitchen door; the chickens scattering as the two of them crossed the yard. Anything else Harry might have said about the Burrow was lost and forgotten as an angry redhead burst out of the house and aimed a verbal explosion at the wizard.

"Harry James Potter, just what the bloody hell did you think you were doing standing me up for our date tonight and completely humiliating in front of everyone!? Do you know how embarrassing it was to sit in Madam Puddifoot's for an hour and a half waiting for a boyfriend who never bothered to show up!?" Ginny demanded as she brandished her wand beneath Harry's nose, sparks trickling from the tip and singeing his sensitive nose hairs. "I've half a mind to curse you from here to Hogwarts and back for what you put me through tonight!"

"Oh… oh!" Harry meeped as his eyes got really wide; he'd forgotten all about Ginny in his rush to save his cousin. "I'm so sorry, Ginny; I completely forgot about our date after reading the urgent letter Dudley had sent me. There was a small family emergency…"

"I don't want to hear your pathetic excuses, Harry Potter!" Ginny hissed as she forced Harry to back up a step by jabbing him in the chest several times with her wand. "You could at least have the decency to tell me the truth instead of making up lies about your muggle cousin when we both know you hate the Dursleys almost as much as they hate you and they'd never send you so much as a Christmas card, let alone an owl!"

"Now just one minute," Harry cut back, angry that his girlfriend had just called him a liar when he'd never once lied to her about anything; his eyes cutting to the nervous blond that had backed away from the loud and very angry redhead to make certain the kid wasn't in the line of fire. "You've no business accusing me of lying; you damn well know that I've never lied to you about anything even if I did withhold information during and after the war. I went to Privet Drive the moment I learned that my aunt and uncle had gone round the twist when another cousin popped out of the woodwork unexpectedly and collected Naruto before they could hurt him any more than they already had."

Ginny turned to take note of Naruto for the first time since she'd barreled out of the door to verbally lay into Harry and her eyes narrowed the instant she saw just how young the kid was and the fact that there were no other adults present as she demanded, "Where are the little brat's parents?"

Harry scowled briefly over the barely disguised venom he heard in his girlfriend's voice before his expression morphed into a puzzled frown as he again wondered just where his cousin's parents were. He then turned his questioning gaze to the blond in the hopes Naruto would clue him into the mystery of his absent parents. He grew concerned when he saw the pained expression on the child's face and he almost knew exactly what the kid was going to say before he said it.

"I'm an orphan; I came to England looking for the only family I have left alive. I didn't think Petunia would hate me the second she saw me."

"Forget about that spiteful old hag; she's not worth your tears and she treats everyone and everything like trash if they don't fit her idea of perfectly normal. You're more than welcome to stay with me for as long as you wish and if you need anything, you only have to ask."

"Really?" Naruto asked in surprise as he stared up at Harry with disbelief and hope.

"Of course," Harry began only for Mount Ginevra to explode a second time.

"Oh, no; absolutely not! I was willing to tolerate you saddling me with your snotty little godson without discussing it with me first but at least he has magic unlike the little lost squib you let tag along with you tonight; he didn't even register on the wards when the two of you stepped on the property. I refuse to stay home to watch over two brats that aren't even mine when I have a pending contract with the Holyhead Harpies."

"Excuse me?" Harry asked in shock as the revelation that Ginny was apparently just as prejudiced when it came to those that were born without magic as the pureblood bigots he'd been up against during the war.

"And to top it off, it'll be all over the papers tomorrow how you jilted me on the night you were supposed to propose to me! Do you have any idea what kinds of terrible things they are going to say about me tomorrow!? You'd better not have cost me my contract with the Harpies with your fool stunt!"

"Who told you I was supposed to propose tonight?" Harry demanded softly as he focused on the most recent turn the argument had taken; his mind still not able to wrap itself around the idea that his girlfriend not only thought squibs were beneath her but that she wanted nothing to do with his godson and his youngest cousin. "Last I knew, my decision on whether or not I asked you to marry me tonight was nothing I discussed with you and was meant to be a surprise."

"Of course I knew you would ask me! Ron told me that you'd finally stopped dragging your feet and bought my ring weeks ago. Why do you think I set our date for Puddifoot's and let all my friends know before I sent a tip to the Daily Prophet so the night my dreams came true could be properly documented and everyone would finally realize that the Boy-Who-Lived was mine!"

Harry's insides froze as he heard that Ginny had intended to make a public spectacle of what was meant to be a private moment just so she could gloat about how she'd claimed the famous Boy-Who-Lived. His eyes narrowed and turned a darker shade of green in anger as he coldly hissed, "So the truth comes out; little Ginny Weasley is still nothing but a little fan-girl looking to one-up all of the other fans out there that hope to claim possession of the famous Harry Potter and his considerable fortune. And that's on top of being one of the very bigots that I fought against in the war; attacking children with her spiteful and cruel words without a care for whose feelings she's trampling. You seem to have forgotten that those two orphaned boys you are determined to hate are _my family_."

Ginny's face paled as her eyes widened in fear before narrowing again in anger as she stubbornly jutted out her chin and delivered an ultimatum, "I don't have to take your attitude, Mr. Potter; until you can treat me with the respect I deserve and until you get rid of _both brats_, I don't want to see your face."

"That suits me just fine," Harry retorted in an even colder voice as he straightened up and glared at the redheaded witch with frozen emerald eyes. "Consider us well and truly over because family will always come first and you've made it perfectly clear that you don't want to be part of my family; you simply wanted me to be a prize you can dangle on your arm. Come on, Naruto, we wouldn't want our presence to sully Miss Weasley's delicate sensibility."

"Where the hell do you think you're going?" Ginny screeched when Harry stepped around her and steered Naruto towards the open kitchen door where three pale faces had observed the entire unfolding drama.

"In case it escaped your notice, my personal effects are currently sitting in the room I share with your brother and I will need to collect both them and my godson before I take my cousin home and reassure him that the entire world isn't filled with selfish little harpies like you and my Aunt Petunia."

Harry stepped into the house that he'd considered a second home for about seven or eight years now as the individuals standing in the door fell away to allow him entrance. He kept one hand protectively on Naruto's shoulder as he felt the kid trembling with emotion; Harry suspected that Ginny's words had hurt the kid deeply.

"Harry, I'm not sure what to say…" Arthur murmured in a pained voice as he helplessly gestured to the fuming Ginny who was still standing out in the middle of the yard where Harry had left her.

"You don't have to say anything, Mr. Weasley; that wasn't your fault and to tell you the truth, I think tonight's fight was a long time coming. Your daughter and I changed too much during the war and whatever it was that Ginny and I had back in my sixth year was long gone before we got back together last summer. I won't hold the things she said tonight against the rest of the family; I realized that most of it was just her temper speaking. It was partly my fault anyway; I should have at least had the forethought to send her a message before I took off to rescue my cousin from my relatives."

"Are you going to be alright, Harry?" Hermione asked worriedly as she helped Harry gather up Teddy's things that were spread about the living room.

"I'll be fine," Harry assured her as he purposefully cut his eyes down towards the quiet kid sticking close to his side as the kid's blue eyes darted every which way as he took in the organized disorder of the Burrow.

"Where will you and the boys go, dear?" Molly inquired fretfully as she wrung her hands and glanced between Harry and stairs leading up to the room where little Teddy had recently been tucked into bed (the matronly woman had grown fond of the toddler over the past month).

"We'll head to Grimmauld Place for tonight at least; Kreacher's been cleaning the place up because I was thinking about selling the old place."

"I'll pack some food for you and the children," Molly immediately insisted upon hearing that before she bustled off to the kitchen to bang the pots and pans around in her distress as she packed up the leftovers from supper.

Harry sighed and headed upstairs with Naruto in tow so that he could pack up his things and the rest of Teddy's things from the nursery into his old trunk. The subdued blond perked up a bit when Harry lifted Teddy up out of his cot after checking the kid's nappy and Harry smiled as he gestured for Naruto to come closer as he crouched down so the kid could get his first look at the sleeping toddler in his arms.

"He's got bright blue hair," Naruto blurted out as he reached out to touch said hair as if to determine whether or not it was real; true blue hair not a color often seen in Konoha (Mizuki-sensei's being the closest and his was more of a pale blue gray than a true blue).

"Yes; for now his hair is blue," Harry replied with a soft laugh. "Blue means he's happy. When he's upset his hair turns red, completely white if he's scared, and a dark orange when he's hungry. And when he's being held by someone he likes, his hair and eyes will match the color of their hair and eyes perfectly."

"Really? That is so cool! Does that mean he has a _Kekkei Genkai_?"

"What is that?"

"I don't know what it means in English but a Kekkei Genkai is a kind of special ability that runs in families."

"Ah, then yes, Teddy's ability to change his appearance is like one of those Keckye things; his mother had the same ability and she could make herself look like just about anybody. She once made herself look just like me. Teddy doesn't really have any control over the ability right now because he's still just a baby though."

"Cool."

Harry chuckled in agreement as he stood back up before he leaned down to grab the handle of his trunk and gestured for Naruto to lead the way back down the stairs. The wizard immensely pleased to see the kid opening back up so quickly after Harry's fight with Ginny and the terrible things she'd said about him. Molly attempted to press a heavy hamper filled to the bursting with all kinds of food into Harry's already filled hands as the three of them reached the ground floor only for Naruto to spring forward to catch the basket before it dropped (the older witch still far too upset to realize what she was doing).

"I already popped down to the pub in town and called a cab to take the three of you up to London," Hermione announced as she tucked Teddy's shrunken diaper bag into Harry's pocket. "Do you have enough cash on hand to pay for the fare or do you need me to loan you some?"

"Thanks, Hermione; you're a lifesaver as usual. And I have more than enough cash on hand to pay for the cab; I've made a habit of keeping a couple hundred pounds on me since Andy signed custody of Teddy over to me because he's still too young for me to travel with the usual way."

"You're welcome, Harry; and if the three of you need anything, I'm just a Floo call away," Hermione insisted before she turned her attention to Naruto and gave him a smile that was tinged with a bit of regret. "I look forward to meeting you properly the next time I see you, young man."

Harry thanked his friend again as she gave him and Teddy both a kiss on the cheek before the three boys were out the door and heading back up the lane to wait for the taxi to arrive. Thankfully, Ginny was no where in sight as Harry had no desire to fight with her again while he was holding his godson and his wand hand was occupied with his trunk.

* * *

**Translations:** Japanese to English

Ano – uh, um, or huh  
Kekkei Genkai – Blood inheritance limits (or bloodline limits)  
Sugoi – wonderful/wow/awesome or dreadful/terrible (depending on how it is said)

**Techniques/Skills:**

**Notes:**

Ginny's tirade – okay, I feel the need to clarify Ginny's rant and anger. This is not actually a bashing moment; Ginny was angry as well as being hurt over being stood up. I have no intention of bashing Ginny in this story. Her comments were mostly just her temper getting away with her mouth and her stubborn pride preventing her from apologizing right away. The things she said were also said in the heat of the moment and not necessarily something she actually means; though that does not alter the fact that she was looking for public recognition for her relationship with Harry.

Her relationship with Harry will also not be repaired; as I'd pointed out in the story earlier, the two of them were having trouble almost from the moment they got back together. There's also the fact that she did the unforgivable in Harry's mind; she was looking to use his fame to rub the noses of his other fans in the fact that she had snagged the Boy-Who-Lived. While she did mature, I see her as never growing out of her fan-girl stage.

I used to like Ginny as a character right up until the end of books six when she made that asinine comment about Harry only being happy fighting Voldemort or some such rot. I'm sorry, but Harry was _never_ happy facing Voldemort time and time again. He did what he did because he felt he had no choice (IMO) and to protect others not because he enjoyed it. The fact that Ginny would say something like to Harry that is why I firmly believe that she will forever be a fan-girl; since, to me, it proves that she doesn't really know him as well as she pretends to.

* Partial quote from chapter 3, page 33 of the US paperback edition of HP &amp; the Prisoner of Azkaban.

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**10-24-15:** _Minor edits made to chapter to fix spelling/grammar mistakes and removed unnecessary author's notes._


	6. A Strange End to a Strange Day

**Disclaimer:** _All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies and all Naruto characters are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites._

**Warnings:** _AU for parts of both worlds (i.e. kiss canon goodbye), mild character bashing, mild to moderate violence (there are shinobi involved after all), and a few others that will be announced as they crop up. _

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

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**Chapter 6: A Strange End to a Strange Day**

_Thursday, August 05, 1999, Evening  
No. 12 Grimmauld Place, London, England_

Naruto hesitantly climbed out of the taxi as he watched his cousin pay the driver; he wasn't quite certain what to think any more after the week he'd just had. He knew it would have been far worse if Dudley hadn't snuck him out of the closet but it had been bad enough having to duck under the bed every time footsteps sounded on the stairs just in case the door to Dudley's room opened; least his older cousin or her husband catch him out of the closet. This evening had been a real doozy though.

He'd been eating a ham sandwich that Dudley had brought him when it sounded like an explosion had been set off downstairs and he'd been torn between panic and curiosity as he'd heard his cousin shrieking at someone else before she suddenly went silent. His sensitive ears had then picked up the angry retort of an unfamiliar man and he'd almost grinned to hear the man call Petunia a hag. It was at that point that Dudley had urged him to hide as the older boy left the room to investigate the disturbance.

The muted conversation he'd listened to after that had been kind of hard to follow and before he could puzzle things out, he'd heard footsteps climbing up the stairs and heading for the room. Not long after that, the eight year old had gotten his first look at the mysterious Harry that Dudley had mentioned repeatedly since his cousin had let him out of the closet. The boy looked nothing like a Namikaze with his coal black hair and dark leaf green eyes and Naruto had half feared that he might have offended the older boy after he'd blurted that fact out.

The cousin he hadn't even known existed (since the boy hadn't been included in Naoki's files) hadn't seemed to mind at all though as he smilingly explained that he'd taken after his father in looks before readily answering all of Naruto's other questions. The news that the teen (who didn't look anywhere near as old as Dudley even though Dudley had said they were almost the same age) was taking care of his godson was an encouraging revelation as anyone who would take in someone else's child to raise couldn't be all bad; especially when he spoke of said child with such obvious fondness.

Or, at least, so he hoped.

Harry had even shown open concern for Naruto and his things, something that had taken the eight year old aback since few people ever showed that level of concern for him. The cool jutsu that Harry had used to make all of Dudley's things pack themselves into the boxes and the one he'd used to fetch the things from other rooms had Naruto excited as he'd never seen anything like that before. The apparent evidence that Harry had been partially trained in the shinobi arts had him hopeful that he could openly train with the older boy (something he'd not been able to do since he'd first shown up at Petunia's house) and that Harry would teach him those cool jutsu.

Things had started looking up at that point and things had gotten even better after they boarded the ugly purple bus that had appeared out of nowhere. That had been fun! Next time he was so going to see if he could jump beds every time they bounced about. The only reason he hadn't tried it earlier tonight was because he didn't know Harry well enough to predict how the man would react and he really hadn't wanted to make Harry angry with him right off the bat.

Sadly, just when it seemed like things were going better than he had ever hoped (Harry being much as he'd imagined his uncle would be like), Harry's girlfriend had ruined everything as she immediately started yelling at Harry. The news that Harry had stood the girl up just to come get him made Naruto feel bad because he'd ruined his cousin's night but at the same time it made him feel warm and fuzzy inside because his cousin had cared enough to come get him despite the fact that he'd already had plans and had never met Naruto before. The rest of the fight had just been scary once Naruto had been insulted by the violent girl after he'd admitted his parents were dead and Harry offered to let him stay as long as he wanted.

Naruto learned another important thing that night; he never wanted Harry furious with him. A furious Harry was a terrifying Harry as he'd gone all cold and quiet like; not like the heated anger he'd heard in Harry's voice when he'd been talking to Petunia after he'd first arrived at his cousin's home.

"Come on, squirt," Harry called from where he was standing between two of the large houses that lined the street.

"Which one is your house, Harry?" Naruto asked as he glanced towards where he saw the number eleven hanging from the house on the left before he turned to eye the number thirteen on the house to the right.

"Number twelve."

"But there isn't a number twelve," Naruto pointed out as he scrunched up his face in confusion and studied the two houses again. "That house has the number eleven and the other one has the number thirteen."

"Ah, but twelve always sits between eleven and thirteen; even if you can't see it, you know it's there because that is where it belongs."

"_Ano_…"

Harry chuckled as he shifted Teddy into his other arm so he could drop his hand on Naruto's shoulder in order to guide him between the two houses. They'd barely taken two steps when another house suddenly grew out of the ground in the blink of an eye and shoved numbers eleven and thirteen apart and Naruto couldn't help but gape at the rusted number twelve half hanging off from the wall beside the front porch.

"See, right where it was supposed to be," Harry cheekily pointed out as he stepped back to collect his trunk from the curb while Naruto continued to stare up at the newly appeared house in awe.

"That was so cool! Is there a barrier around the house that makes it so other people can't see it until they step through it?" Naruto inquired as he eagerly followed Harry onto the porch; the eight year old immediately thinking the house had been hiding under seals of some kind.

"Sort of; we call them wards and the ones around number Twelve Grimmauld Place are designed to hide the house from everyone who doesn't already know the house exists and the only people that can bring someone new to this house are those that already know about it. There aren't that many people left that know how to find the house though, so we'll have plenty of privacy for as long as we stay here."

"I'm sorry I ruined everything for you with your girlfriend, Potter-san."

"Don't apologize for Ginny," Harry retorted in a mildly irritated tone but Naruto didn't know if he was irritated with him or if it was the topic he was irritated with; clarification came a moment later. "The only person responsible for Ginny is Ginny and we've been having trouble for the last year; so it was not your fault I broke up with her tonight. And I thought I asked you to call me Harry?"

"But she wouldn't have been mad at you if you hadn't had to come get me instead of going on your date."

"Ah, no, that was my fault; I should have sent her a message to let her know I couldn't make our date but according to what I learned from Ginny about what she set up tonight, I think you saved me from something far worse than getting yelled at by a red-headed harpy."

"_Ano_… what do you mean?" Naruto demanded in confusion as they stepped inside of the house where they came face to face with a short, demonic creature with huge eyes and bigger ears. "And what in the world is that!?"

"He is a house elf, Naruto, and his name is Kreacher," Harry explained as Naruto eyed the strange creature. "Kreacher, will you please take my trunk upstairs to the bedroom that I used the last time I was here and prepare the two rooms on either side of my room for Naruto and Teddy? We'll be staying here for a while."

"Does Master Harry wish for Kreacher to make supper for him and his guests?" Kreacher asked in a gravely voice.

"No, Mrs. Weasley sent some leftovers home with us; they're in the basket Naruto is holding. If you'll set the dining room and warm them up, then we'll have those tonight. I wouldn't say no to a cup of hot chocolate and a plate of your peanut butter and chocolate chunk biscuits for afters though."

Kreacher, who'd been looking positively murderous the moment Harry had mentioned the leftovers (and making Naruto think he might attack), grew happy the moment Harry had mentioned the hot chocolate and the biscuits before he disappeared with a pop; taking both the basket from Naruto's arms and the trunk that had been sitting beside Harry.

"This way, Naruto; if I know Kreacher, he'll already have everything set up in the dining room for us," Harry instructed as he headed down the hallway that ran beside a set of stairs leading upstairs. "While we're staying here, there are a few very important rules that I need for you to follow so that you don't end up hurt. First rule; do not wander off on your own to explore the house. While Kreacher has been diligently working to remove the dark artifacts that the previous owners collected, there are still quite a few of them left behind and they are all dangerous. I will give you a proper tour of the place tomorrow and show you those rooms that are safe for you to use."

"Second rule; please don't wander off outside alone. It is easy to get lost in London and there are a lot of unpleasant people that roam the streets not matter what the time of day. The backyard is unsafe at the moment but I'll start cleaning it up soon so that you'll have a place to run around outside when you get tired of being cooped up in the house. Right now though, there's just no telling what kind of wretched things have taken seed out there or what kind of dangerous critters moved in while the house was neglected."

"Third rule; the kitchen is off-limits. The kitchen is Kreacher's domain and he can get right grumpy when any one invades his space and tries to steal what he sees as his work. If you get hungry between meals, you can just ask Kreacher to make you anything within reason and he'll usually be happy to serve you. Kreacher will also sneak into your room to clean it for you, so if you leave something out and can't find it, check where you normally keep it as he probably put it away for you while you were out of the room. It's also no use asking him to stop because he's too old to change his ways."

They'd reached the dining room by this time where they found the table already set and several piping hot dishes sitting where they would be well within reach of both place settings. Harry trailed off as he took a moment to pull out a tiny bag that he made grow before he dug into the bag and pulled out a child carrier that he made grow next. The teen then tucked the still sleeping Teddy into the carrier and set it on the table before taking the seat at the head table, leaving Naruto to take the one just to the left of his cousin's chair where a plate and silverware were already waiting for him.

"Go a head and take a seat and help yourself to anything you see on the table," Harry urged as he smiled at Naruto even as he began filling his plate with an assortment of unfamiliar dishes. "There is no need to stand on ceremony." The only sound that filled the room for the next few minutes was the sound of silverware and utensils clinking against the serving platters and the plates; Naruto taking a little of those dishes those that Dudley had given him to try and those that looked like they would taste alright while avoiding those that didn't. After a few minutes, Harry broke the silence once more as he asked, "Hmm, let's see; which rule did I leave off on?"

"_Ano_, the one about the kitchen being off limits and how the scary little man will pick up my things if I leave them out."

"Oh, right, that just leaves us with the last rule which also happens to be the most important rule," Harry stated as he set his silverware down and pinned Naruto with intense green eyes. "It is very important that you don't hesitate to speak up if there's something bothering you or if you don't understand something. I know exactly what it is like to be thrust into a whole new world and not know up from down. Dealing with trying to understand an entirely new culture is never easy and I am more than willing to answer any questions you have or get you whatever you need to make your stay here as comfortable as possible for you. I'd also appreciate it if you never lied to me. If you don't want to talk about something, fine, I won't force you but please don't lie to me, alright?"

Naruto could only nod in agreement as he stared at Harry with wide blue eyes. He still wasn't really used to people being willing to help him and while Naoki had said much the same thing, Naruto knew that it had been Naoki's job to help everyone that passed through the portals. Harry was under no such obligations and that made a world of difference to the eight and a half year old.

"Perfect! Now, I've noticed that you've not eaten anything yet; is that because you aren't hungry or because you aren't certain what everything is?"

"I know what a few things are; Dudley had me try a bunch of things but there are only a couple of those here and the rest of them look kind of weird."

The rest of the meal was spent with Harry describing each of the dishes for Naruto; patiently listing the ingredients and spices that were used in each one as well as offering suggestions of what could be added to the dish to improve the taste if it wasn't to his liking. Naruto in turn asked Harry what kind of ramen he liked only to discover that Harry had never tried any Japanese dishes let alone tasted the food of the gods. The blond swore right then and there to introduce his poor, poor cousin to the wonder that was ramen at the first opportunity available.

Halfway through the meal, Teddy finally woke up and Naruto had a brief glimpse of dark amber before the baby's eyes turned deep green to match Harry's eyes and his hair changed from bright blue to coal black. Knowing the kid could change his appearance and seeing him do it were two different things and Naruto couldn't help but exclaim how cool it was; his loud voice startling the kid and causing his eyes, hair, and skin to turn bright white in shock as he whipped around to stare at Naruto; his little lower lip trembling. Naruto apologized for scaring the kid but Harry waved him off and quickly distracted the little boy by offering him food and his hair and eyes soon mimicked Harry's features once more while his skin returned to a normal healthy pink.

Once they'd eaten their fill of the food that they'd been given by the older red head (Naruto uncertain of her name since he'd not been introduced to anyone because of the screeching redhead whose name was Jenny or something like that), Kreacher appeared and cleared the table with a snap of his fingers while a second snap made a steaming pitcher that smelled of warm chocolate, a tray that held several tasty things (such as a bag of marshmallows, a large cup of chocolate shavings, a shaker of cinnamon, and a bowl of whipped cream), and several plates piled high with different kinds of still warm cookies appear. Naruto sniffed the air appreciatively as the scent of warm peanut butter, sugar, and chocolate filled the room and made his mouth water.

"Is there anything else Master Harry requires?"

"No, I don't think so… though I just realized that I didn't properly introduce you to my cousin," Harry stated as he grabbed one of the pale ivory cookies (what Naruto would later learn were shortbread cookies, though Harry called them biscuits) and handed it to little Teddy. "Kreacher, this young man is Naruto Evans; he's my second or third cousin from my mother's side of the family and he'll be staying with us for the time being. Please treat him as part of the family. I've already warned him that the kitchen is off-limits."

"Does young Master Evans require anything from Kreacher?"

"No thank you, Kreacher-san," Naruto automatically replied as he distractedly watched Harry pouring out two mugs of dark chocolate and set one of them in front of Naruto while he began adding different items to the other cup from the tray Kreacher had brought.

"So, why don't you tell me a little bit about yourself, Naruto; such as your age and birthdate, the names of your parents, how long ago you lost your parents, a few things you like or don't like, and why the man that took you to the Dursley's pretty much abandoned you? And if you tell me what Dudley has already told you about me, then I will fill you in on the important things he might have left out."

"I was born on October tenth and I'm going to be nine this year. My parents' names were Uzumaki Kushina and Namikaze Minato; they both died the day I was born when our village was attacked. _Eeto_… I really like ramen, Izumi-chan's cooking, sudoku puzzles, flying, and training. I don't like mean people or uncooked vegetables," Naruto began hesitantly, carefully censoring his words because he wasn't sure yet whether or not he wanted to tell Harry about the Elemental Countries; though he was thinking he might tell him later because of the things he'd seen Harry do.

"_Ano_… Dudley told me that Lily-san died when you were just a baby. He said you'd been stuffed in the closet that Petunia locked me in. He told me that you can do all kinds of cool tricks but that Petunia didn't like that you could do them. And he also told me that I had a bunch of stuff in common with you. He talked about you a lot but mostly just to tell me how much I would like you once I met you because you were a good person."

"Wow, when I was your age I never thought I'd ever hear Dudley say nice things about me," Harry mused as he took a bite out of a golden brown cookie with thick chunks of chocolate and peanuts in it. He then pinned the eight year old with those piercing green eyes again as he casually asked, "Is there any particular reason why you don't want to talk about the guy that vanished and left you all alone in a hostile environment after he turned up with you at Number Four? If nothing else, I need to know the berk's name, so I know who I will be chewing out for endangering your life."

"There wasn't anyone else," Naruto blurted out after he spent a couple of minutes squirming beneath those green eyes that demanded the truth. "I came to England alone."

"Then who was the man that turned up at Number Four with you?"

"That was me; I made him and made him look like an adult; he was just a… a _Kage Bunshin_ and he wasn't real. Petunia destroyed him when she hit him."

Harry tilted his head to one side like a curious bird as his brow furrowed slightly in puzzlement before he asked, "Can you make another one?" Naruto nodded reluctantly as he hoped he wouldn't be in trouble with Naoki for revealing that ability to his cousin. "Will you show me?"

Naruto bit his lip in uncertainty before he recalled the cool things he'd seen his cousin do earlier and he brought his hands up to form the seal he needed to create a shadow clone. Due to having gone several days without burning off his excess chakra with training and chakra control exercises and because he was nervous, he accidentally made a few too many and the room was soon packed with at least fifty copies of the blond. Naruto cringed as he watched Harry's eyes widen in shock only to be shocked in turn as his cousin began acting like a little kid as he got up and began poking and prodding the clones closest to him as he inspected him; the teen even tickled one of them, making the clone laugh so hard it popped in a puff of smoke that made Harry jump.

"Amazing," Harry exclaimed as he spun around a few times to take in all of the clones. "And you can change what they look like?" In response, the clones each used a henge to turn into different people and animals; a couple of them even cheekily turning into Teddy, Harry, and Kreacher (though those three disguises weren't exactly perfect because he didn't know them that well). "Bloody hell, I've never seen anything so fascinating before and I've seen some amazing things since my eleventh birthday. I would have given almost anything to have an ability like that when I was younger."

The clones dispelled with puffs of smoke in small groups a moment later since there was really no reason for them to stay. Harry grinned like a loon for a moment longer before he suddenly started frowning as his eyes fell on Naruto again and he dropped down into his chair and tapped his fingers on the table as if he was annoyed or frustrated.

"Why were you alone? Did you run away from your guardians? Are you in some kind of trouble?" Harry finally asked as he sat up and glanced up to study Naruto with concern. "Did you come all the way to England from Japan just to look for the Dursleys?"

"I… I never had any one to take care of me. I lived alone until I left the village where I was born and made my way to Japan to look for my uncle. Naoki-jijii found me almost as soon as I got to Japan and helped me look for him while I went to school to catch up on some of the stuff I missed. Naoki didn't want me to fly to England alone after he found Petunia but I thought I would be fine because she was supposed to be… and all I wanted was to find…"

"Family," Harry finished heavily as the nineteen year old suddenly looked far older. "May Merlin, Maeve, and Mungo give me strength in the face of adversity. Aside from the Nahokey gentleman you've mentioned a couple of times; does anyone else know that you are here in England and that you came to see the Dursleys?"

"All of my sensei from Asahikawa knew I was coming here… c_hikushou_, I forgot! I was supposed to call Naoki and let him know I got here alright but I was so nervous about meeting Petunia and then…"

"You were a little preoccupied with the trouble you landed yourself in. There is no phone is this house and I couldn't tell you where the closest public phone around here is… Ah, I know; why don't you write out a letter to your friend and I will have Kreacher send it out tonight with the fastest possible courier and I'll see what I can do about securing a way for you to call your friend any time you want, within reason, while you are staying with me."

"Okay," Naruto agreed as he pulled his backpack off for the first time in days and dug into it for a pencil and a piece of paper (from his travel supplies). He then spent a good twenty minutes writing out a letter, making certain to apologize several times for not calling or writing sooner and to leave out the death threats that Petunia and Vernon had given to him. He then glanced up to ask Harry for the address of the house they were staying at so he could give it to Naoki when he noticed his cousin had just finished writing a letter of his own (using a feather of all things). "_Ano_…"

"Was there something you needed, Naruto?" Harry asked as he glanced up to meet Naruto's gaze as he carefully waved the thick paper he'd written his letter on back and forth to dry the ink.

"What's that?" Naruto inquired nervously as he eyed the letter as if it was a dangerous snake; completely forgetting about asking for an address in the wake of his renewed trepidation.

"I took the opportunity to write a letter of introduction for myself to send along with your letter; I would not want any of your friends to think that I was trying to take advantage of you. I also provided them with a couple of different ways that they can contact me, and you, since I do not have a telephone. Are you finished with your letter?"

"Yeah."

"Please pass it here then and I will seal it into the envelope with mine and you can write the address on the front."

"Can I… can I read…?" Naruto asked as he continued to stare at the letter that had been neatly folded into thirds and tucked into the thick envelope that Naruto hadn't noticed earlier.

"The proper way to ask someone for permission to do something would be to use the word 'may'," Harry automatically corrected courtesy of Hermione's many lectures on using proper grammar through the years. "While 'may' and 'can' both have similar meanings, the word 'can' usually refers to a person's capabilities rather than a request for permission. So when you ask 'can I read your letter' it implies that you are asking if you are capable of reading instead of requesting for permission to read the letter. And to answer your question, yes; you may read the letter I wrote."

"_Arigatou_," Naruto murmured softly as he accepted the letter that Harry passed to him; unsure whether he was thanking his cousin for the impromptu lesson (which had been helpful and easy to understand) or for permission to read the letter he'd written.

"You're welcome, squirt."

Naruto smiled at his cousin when he heard the warmth in his tone as he slid the letter out of the envelope so that he could read what his cousin had written. He wrinkled his nose when he realized that Harry's handwriting was nearly as hard to read as some of his own earlier attempts at writing romaji and English. He soon ignored the sloppy penmanship as he focused on the words instead.

_To Whom It May Concern,_

_Please allow me to introduce myself; I am Sir Harry James Potter, a Knight of Her  
Majesty's Realm [Order of Merlin (First Class)], Head of House Potter, and Regent for  
House Black on behalf of my godson, Theodore Remus Lupin. I am also the biological  
son of James Charlus Potter and Lily Potter (née Evans)._

_I am contacting you due to the connection you purportedly have with my newly discovered  
cousin, Naruto Evans. I am sad to say that my maternal aunt was less than cordial in  
receiving my cousin upon his arrival here in England due to a rare mental illness that has  
progressively grown worse through the years. Thankfully, our oldest cousin, Dudley Dursley,  
was able to intervene on Naruto's behalf and he did not suffer any physical harm at the  
hands of my aunt. _

_Unfortunately, I am fairly positive that Naruto was verbally abused during the short time he  
was left in my aunt's care though the full extent of said abuse is currently unknown as Naruto  
has only been in my care for a few short hours as I write this letter. I will see to it that any  
issues that come up as a result of said abuse are addressed appropriately as they appear._

_I strongly urge you to avoid any and all contact with Petunia Dursley (née Evans) or her  
husband (Vernon Dursley) for any reason as her mental health has rapidly deteriorated since  
Naruto's arrival and her condition is expected to degenerate further in the near future. In  
light of the seriousness of my aunt's declining health, please list me as the primary contact  
for all matters dealing with the Potter, Black, Evans, and Dursley families. _

_My contact information is as follows:_

_Sir Harry James Potter  
c/o Phoenix Transports  
No. 27 Gryffindor Ln  
Godric's Hollow, Devon, England_

_Or_

_Black Family Regent  
c/o Hawking International Services  
No. 12 Grimmauld Place  
London, England _

_Or_

_Harry Potter  
c/o Night Bird Ltd.  
Gringotts Bank  
Diagon Alley, London, England_

_In the event of an emergency where time is of the utmost importance, please contact your  
local government office and provide them with my full name (including __**all**__ of my titles)  
along with a brief description of the emergency and they should have the means to get a  
message to me within twenty minutes or less (depending on my current location at the time  
of contact)._

_You may also list Dudley Dursley as a secondary contact; however, Dudley is currently  
in the process of moving his primary residence and will be temporarily unavailable. Once  
Dudley's move has been finalized, I will forward you his contact information so that you  
will have it for your records. _

_Additionally, I wanted to assure you that I intend to take responsibility for my cousin's  
needs for as long as he wishes to remain here in England. As such, I am fully prepared to  
provide due compensation for any financial debts that you incurred while my cousin was  
in your care._

_If, after reading this letter and Naruto's accompanying letter, you still feel uncomfortable  
with the situation; I am more than willing to make arrangements so that we might meet  
face to face either here in England or in Japan in order to discuss the matter. Plans are  
being made to secure access to a telephone so that Naruto may contact you whenever he  
wishes._

_Sincerely yours,  
Sir Harry James Potter_

Naruto frequently had to ask Harry what some of the words meant as he'd not come across them during his lessons and by the time he finished reading the letter he had a hundred and one questions he wanted to ask but they were all so jumbled up in his mind that he couldn't actually voice any of them out loud. He was also completely confused as to why his cousin (who'd not even known him a full day) was willing to go to the lengths he'd said he would (both in the letter and more than once directly to Naruto since they'd met). Then there was the absolute terror Naruto felt that none of what had happened that evening was real; that he'd wake up in the morning and find that he was still trapped in the closet.

Eventually, Naruto managed to ask one question that was more like thirty questions all rolled into one; "Why…?"

Harry stood up from the table, made his way to Naruto's side, and placed a hand on the blond's head before he answered Naruto's loaded question with, "Because we're family."

* * *

**Translations:** Japanese to English

Ano – uh, um, or huh  
Arigatou – thank you  
Eeto – let me see…  
Ojiisan/jiisan/jijii – grandfather or old man

**Techniques/Skills:**

Henge no Jutsu – Transformation Technique  
Kage Bunshin no Jutsu – Shadow Clone

**Notes:**

The reason why there were three different addresses listed in the letter was to give the appearance that Harry could be reached through more than one means. In actuality, any muggle mail sent to Harry will be picked up by magicals means and transported directly to him regardless of what address is on the front so long as it has one of the three magical courier services listed. Or at least that is the way I see it. If he had a muggle address he could have gotten regular post as well but the warding around Grimmauld Place kind of negates that.

* * *

**10-24-15:** _Minor edits made to chapter to fix spelling/grammar mistakes and removed unnecessary author's notes._


	7. Harry's Story

**Disclaimer:** _All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies and all Naruto characters are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites._

**Warnings:** _AU for parts of both worlds (i.e. kiss canon goodbye), mild character bashing, mild to moderate violence (there are shinobi involved after all), and a few others that will be announced as they crop up. _

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

**Chapter 7: Harry's Story**

_Saturday, August 07, 1999, Early Morning  
Elemental District, Asahikawa, Hokkaido, Japan _

Sasaki Naoki woke up an hour earlier than usual and got ready to leave; the forty-three year old man fully determined to catch a flight to Haneda Airport that morning before catching the first available flight to England so that he could find out what had happened to little Uzumaki Naruto. He knew he never should have allowed the child to head off alone to England but he'd let Naruto talk him out of providing the eight year old with an escort. And while he knew that Naruto could take care of himself (up to a point) Naruto was still just a child; despite the fact that the blond did his best to make other people forget that little tidbit.

When Naruto hadn't called him the moment he arrived in London as promised, Naoki had at first chalked it up to the kid being too overwhelmed or overexcited to remember his promise. It had now been over a week though, and Naoki feared that something bad had happened to the kid that had quickly wormed his way into his heart during the months he'd lived with his family. So he'd spent the last two days making arrangements and applying for an emergency travel visa so that he could travel to England in order to find out what had happened to Naruto.

Naoki collected his hastily packed suitcase (packed the evening before when he'd received notice that his emergency travel visa had been approved) and headed out the door ten minutes later. He never made it past his front porch though as his attention had been caught by an out of place ivory colored envelope sitting in the middle of the porch the moment he'd stepped outside. He stared at the envelope in confusion for a full minute (wondering why and how the envelope had ended up on his porch of all places) before he reached down to pick it up so he could get a closer look at it.

The moment he recognized Naruto's handwriting on the front of the envelope, he felt a combination of relief and exasperation wash through him as he was now holding proof in his hands that the kid was alright. The exasperation was due to the fact that Naruto had chosen the slowest method possible to contact him instead of just calling him from the nearest phone. No longer feeling an urgent need to rush off to the airport, Naoki reentered his home and headed for the kitchen to make a cup of tea and read Naruto's letter. He could still catch a flight to England after he saw what Naruto had to say if he wasn't satisfied with the kid's assessment of the situation.

Eight minutes later, Naoki was seated at the table with a steaming mug of tea. He used a pair of scissors to cut off a small piece on one side of the rather expensive envelope and shook out the two pieces of paper that had been inside. He frowned a bit over the difference in quality of the two papers and opened them both up to find only one of them had been written by the eight year old. Naoki wasn't certain whether or not he should be relieved to know that Naruto wasn't alone as he didn't recognize the name signed at the bottom of the letter that had been written on the more expensive paper.

Naoki considered the two letters for a moment before he reached for Naruto's letter first; he wanted to see what the gaki had to say for himself before he read the other letter.

_Naoki, _

_I am so sorry, I completely forgot about calling you like I promised and Harry doesn't have  
a phone or I would have called you the moment I remembered. Harry said he'd find a way  
for me to call you soon and in the mean time he told me to write you a letter to let you know  
that I was okay. I am really sorry for not calling._

_Petunia and Vernon weren't really happy about meeting me but Dudley was really nice to  
me. Dudley was the one that asked Harry to come get me. Dudley also told me that cousin  
Lily didn't die when you thought she did but she did die when Dudley and Harry were just  
babies and that Harry came to live with Dudley's parents after his mother died. _

_Harry looks nothing at all like a Namikaze; he has black hair and dark green eyes. He told  
me that he looks just like his father. Harry is so cool! He did this awesome jutsu that made  
all of Dudley's things pack themselves into the boxes and he took me on this awesome bus  
that was just like those fun park rides you told me about. It was so fun. _

_His girlfriend isn't all that nice but Harry got all mad at her for the things she said and now  
she's not his girlfriend any more. I feel bad because it's my fault but Harry said it was both  
his fault and her fault. Harry even said I saved him but I didn't quite get what it was I saved  
him from. _

_Harry has a baby! Teddy is Harry's godson and he is so cute! And he has this awesome  
Kekkei Genkai that lets him change what he looks like. It's almost like the Henge no Jutsu  
but he doesn't have to make any hand seals and he can't control what he looks like right  
now though because he's just a baby. Harry said Teddy's mother could do the same thing. I  
scared him on accident the first time I saw him change and he turned all white!_

_I'm going to stay with Harry. He said I could stay with him for as long as I wanted. I like  
him, even if he is really scary when he gets angry. He only yells when gets a little upset,  
like when he yelled at Petunia when he came to get me, but he got all quiet and cold like  
ice when he got really angry with his old girlfriend. Harry is really nice to me though. _

_I can't wait to see what other jutsu Harry can do and ride the ugly purple bus again. I  
also have to take Harry to have some ramen. Can you believe that he's never tried ramen  
before? He didn't even know what ramen was when I asked him if he liked it. _

_My poor itoko; I get nightmares just thinking about how terrible it would be to never have  
any ramen at all. I wish I could bring him to the Elemental District so that he could taste  
Izumi's salt ramen. I did find one restaurant here that serves ramen and the beef ramen I  
had was alright but no where near as good as Izumi's homemade ramen. I'd make him  
some myself but the kitchen is off limits because the little man that works in there doesn't  
like it when people do his job. Maybe I can teach him how to make it for me._

_I'll try to call you soon and I'm really sorry again about not calling you sooner._

_Naruto_

Naoki snorted over Naruto's comments and reaction to this Harry person's unfamiliarity with ramen. Less amusing were the glaring omissions over what had happened when Naruto had first met Petunia and her husband and the reason why Petunia's son had felt the need to call someone else to come pick up Naruto. He also wasn't certain what to make of Naruto's claim that Lily Evans had lived long enough to give birth to a child. Naoki set Naruto's letter aside for his wife and the others to read later while he picked up the other letter that had been sent with the eight year old's.

_To Whom It May Concern,_

_Please allow me to introduce myself; I am Sir Harry James Potter, a Knight of Her  
Majesty's Realm [Order of Merlin (First Class)], Head of House Potter, and Regent for  
House Black on behalf of my godson, Theodore Remus Lupin. I am also the biological  
son of James Charlus Potter and Lily Potter (née Evans)._

_I am contacting you due to the connection you purportedly have with my newly discovered  
cousin, Naruto Evans. I am sad to say that my maternal aunt was less than cordial in  
receiving my cousin upon his arrival here in England due to a rare mental illness that has  
progressively grown worse through the years. Thankfully, our oldest cousin, Dudley Dursley,  
was able to intervene on Naruto's behalf and he did not suffer any physical harm at the  
hands of my aunt. _

_Unfortunately, I am fairly positive that Naruto was verbally abused during the short time he  
was left in my aunt's care though the full extent of said abuse is currently unknown as Naruto  
has only been in my care for a few short hours as I write this letter. I will see to it that any  
issues that come up as a result of said abuse are addressed appropriately as they appear._

_I strongly urge you to avoid any and all contact with Petunia Dursley (née Evans) or her  
husband (Vernon Dursley) for any reason as her mental health has rapidly deteriorated since  
Naruto's arrival and her condition is expected to degenerate further in the near future. In  
light of the seriousness of my aunt's declining health, please list me as the primary contact  
for all matters dealing with the Potter, Black, Evans, and Dursley families. _

_My contact information is as follows:_

_Sir Harry James Potter  
c/o Phoenix Transports  
No. 27 Gryffindor Ln  
Godric's Hollow, Devon, England_

_Or_

_Black Family Regent  
c/o Hawking International Services  
No. 12 Grimmauld Place  
London, England _

_Or_

_Harry Potter  
c/o Night Bird Ltd.  
Gringotts Bank  
Diagon Alley, London, England_

_In the event of an emergency where time is of the utmost importance, please contact your  
local government office and provide them with my full name (including __**all**__ of my titles)  
along with a brief description of the emergency and they should have the means to get a  
message to me within twenty minutes or less (depending on my current location at the time  
of contact)._

_You may also list Dudley Dursley as a secondary contact; however, Dudley is currently  
in the process of moving his primary residence and will be temporarily unavailable. Once  
Dudley's move has been finalized, I will forward you his contact information so that you  
will have it for your records. _

_Additionally, I wanted to assure you that I intend to take responsibility for my cousin's  
needs for as long as he wishes to remain here in England. As such, I am fully prepared to  
provide due compensation for any financial debts that you incurred while my cousin was  
in your care._

_If, after reading this letter and Naruto's accompanying letter, you still feel uncomfortable  
with the situation; I am more than willing to make arrangements so that we might meet  
face to face either here in England or in Japan in order to discuss the matter. Plans are  
being made to secure access to a telephone so that Naruto may contact you whenever he  
wishes._

_Sincerely yours,  
Sir Harry James Potter_

_PS: I can not find the words to express just how angry and disappointed I am that an adult  
would allow a young child to travel alone half way around the world to meet perfect  
strangers. I did not mention this earlier in the letter, as I fully expected Naruto to ask for  
permission to read what I wrote above (and he did), but I need for you to know exactly  
how serious of a situation my cousin ended up in due to your decision. _

_My aunt and uncle are not kind people. They are, in fact, the worst kind of people you can  
imagine as they have two faces; the nice and friendly one they show to the public and the  
terrible ugly one that is their real face. They are also highly bigoted people that are not  
above punishing a child simply because said child existed. _

_The mental illness my aunt suffers from? It's an irrational hate of __**any**__thing and __**every**__thing  
different. My uncle is also known for having an extremely short temper and for resorting to  
physical violence when he is angry. If not for Dudley's quick thinking in contacting me,  
there is no telling just what would have happened to Naruto. _

_That said, the worst did not happen; Dudley smuggled Naruto out of his temporary prison  
and protected him until I could collect him. Though the fact that Dudley was still living  
with his parents and that he had been present the day Naruto turned up on their doorstep  
was nothing short of a miracle._

_I hope Naruto at least came clean with you about what happened the day he met Petunia  
but I get the impression that he isn't the type of kid to trust adults or worry those people he  
likes with his troubles; I can see it in his eyes. I suppose he's a lot like me in that sense. I  
was actually shocked to learn just how much Naruto and I have in common and we haven't  
really had time to get to know one another yet or hear each other's complete stories. _

_Naruto does seem quite fond of you though and it is only my desire to take his feelings into  
consideration that prevents me from showing you just how displeased I was to learn that  
you allowed him to travel alone. It helps that Naruto was unharmed despite the seriousness  
of the situation he ended up in. I will, for now, give you the benefit of the doubt and reserve  
judgment until I've met you and heard your side of the story and the rest of Naruto's story._

_~ HJP_

Naoki felt more than a little sick to his stomach after reading the post script Mr. Potter had placed at the end of his letter as the guilt and worry he'd felt prior to finding the two letters on his doorstep slammed back into him threefold. He then immediately grabbed up both letters and headed to his office in order to search for more information on the mysterious relative of Naruto's that conveniently popped up out of the woodwork just in time to supposedly 'save' Naruto. Another cousin that had purportedly lived with the Dursleys according to Naruto's letter despite there having been no mention of another child ever living in the Dursley household according to the research he'd done on the family.

* * *

_Sunday, August 08, 1999, Early Morning (pre-dawn hours)  
No. 12 Grimmauld Place, London, England_

Harry groggily rolled out of bed, pulled on his dressing gown, and wearily headed towards the nursery to take care of his godson. He'd taken two steps towards Teddy's room before he paused in confusion when he realized that the sound of crying that had woken him up just now was not coming from the nursery (as expected) but from Naruto's bedroom. That realization helped clear the last of the sleep from Harry's mind and he hesitated for a brief moment before he strode over to Naruto's door and lightly rapped his knuckles on the door (to announce his presence) before he opened the door. It only took him a few seconds to locate Naruto huddled on his bed in the corner where the bed butted up against the wall.

"Hey, squirt," Harry greeted softly as he stepped into the room and slowly made his way across the room. "Are you feeling alright?"

"I'm fine, dattebayo," Naruto loudly proclaimed with forced cheerfulness as he plastered a fake grin across his face; the moonlight trickling in through the curtains reflecting off of the tear tracks staining his whisker marked face silently giving away the lie in his words.

Harry sighed at Naruto's attempt to pretend there was nothing wrong as he seated himself at the foot of the bed; the kid's response reminded the wizard of himself yet again. He knew something was bothering his little cousin, he just didn't know exactly what it was. The sweat soaked pillow and tangled mess that had been made of the covers suggested that it had been a nightmare that was the problem. Something that wasn't unexpected given the kid's recent experiences while in Petunia and Vernon's care.

"I can see why Hermione still gets so cross with me most of the time when I tell her I'm 'just fine'," Harry quipped with a soft chuckle once he'd finished his brief analysis of the situation. "When we were younger, she always used to worry even more if I told her I was just fine when she knew there was something bothering me. Over time, she started getting annoyed instead of growing worried because she got tired of me trying to hide the things that bothered me in order to stop her from worrying about me. That was especially true on those nights when she found me after I'd had yet another nightmare."

"Did you have lots of nightmares when you were little?" Naruto asked hesitantly when Harry trailed off.

"A few every now and then; just like any other kid," Harry replied with a nod as he glanced up at Naruto before he turned to stare out the window.

"That all changed after I turned thirteen, when I came face to face with a vile creature called a dementor that feeds off the misery of others; forcing their victims to relive their worst memories while they devour the victim's soul piece by piece with each breath they take. The darker and more painful a person's memories are, the more appetizing that person's soul and life force are to the dementors; they flocked to me like flies to honey. The memories they stirred never really faded after that and the dangerous situations I ended up in time and time again through the next several years only fueled even darker nightmares."

"How… how did you get rid of the nightmares?" Naruto inquired as he leaned towards Harry with a rather hopeful expression on his face.

Harry smiled sadly as he climbed to his feet, flipped over Naruto's pillow, and straightened up the covers before holding them up to encourage Naruto to crawl back under them as he replied, "I didn't; I still have them most every night. I did, however, learn how to make a few of them far less frightening."

"How…?"

"I stopped trying to hide my nightmares and started talking about them with my two best friends. Talking about some of the terrible memories that gave birth to the nightmares helped even more since they were what was really bothering me. I am not going to force you to talk about your bad dreams and I can't make you tell me who or what it was that forced you to flee the only home you'd ever known to hunt down a relative you'd never met but I want you to know that I am here _if_ you ever do want to talk about those things."

Nothing more was said as Harry tucked Naruto back into bed and ruffled the kid's head before he exited the room. Harry then checked on Teddy before he returned to his room. As he crawled back into bed, Harry felt a sense of unease filling him as his mind lingered on just how similar his and Naruto's lives seemed to be. They were both orphans, they both had trouble trusting adults, they both suffered from nightmares, and they both tended to hide their true feelings from the rest of the world. What really bothered Harry though, was the fear that Naruto had been marked by prophecy in the same way that Harry had been marked by a prophecy; from the moment of his birth.

After all, the whisker marks on Naruto's face stood out just as glaringly obvious as the lightning bolt scar that still stood upon his own brow; faded though it was.

* * *

_Friday, August 13, 1999, Late Afternoon  
No. 12 Grimmauld Place, London, England_

Harry saw Hermione through the Floo before he dropped down onto the couch with a soft sigh of contentment as he propped his feet up on the coffee table and slouched down until he was comfortably sprawled between the two pieces of furniture. It had been a busy week and the nineteen year old wizard couldn't help but wonder how Mr. and Mrs. Weasley managed to raise seven kids when Harry had trouble enough just keeping up with two. Then again, Harry had also never been happier than he had been as the three of them explored the more interesting parts of London together.

Monday had been spent wandering around the London Zoo for close to fifteen hours. Tuesday had found the trio visiting the Tower of London. On Wednesday, Harry had taken the boys to the London Aquarium (which had opened two years earlier). And Thursday had seen the trio visiting the National Maritime Museum and the Cutty Sark Museum Ship.

Needing a break from the overcrowded tourist hotspots, Harry had called Hermione the night before and asked her if she'd come over to watch Teddy for a few hours. Harry had then taken Naruto to watch the newly released animated film _Faeries_ at the cinema (during the theater's slowest hours) and eat a late lunch at one of the city's Japanese restaurants where Harry got his first taste of ramen. Harry had found the soup to be a bit too salty for his tastes but it wasn't terrible and while he doubted that it would ever become one of his favorite dishes, he wouldn't be opposed to having a bowl every now and then; something that had pleased Naruto.

Harry had chosen that particular film to gauge Naruto's reaction to the concept of 'magic' and 'magical creatures' as he'd been having a hard time determining whether or not Naruto was aware of the wizarding world. His cousin hadn't shown any reaction to verbal references to magic (a few examples including the words witch, squib, dementor, and house elf) and while Naruto appeared amazed any time Harry performed a spell, he showed no surprise over the fact that Harry was doing magic. Then there was the way Naruto had immediately jumped to the conclusion that there were wards surrounding the house that first night.

Yet his cousin had shown no reaction to Harry's full name when he'd read Harry's letter and he knew for a fact that the Japanese wizarding community was well aware of exactly who he was (his story was known world wide and he had been required to attend an emergency meeting of the International Confederation of Wizards shortly after he'd defeated Voldemort). Naruto had also claimed to love flying but had not once asked Harry to take him for a ride on his broom and he knew the kid had seen his Firebolt more than once since he'd arrived.

So, Harry had decided to give his cousin a test of sorts in the form of the animated movie knowing that a child raised in the magical world would wonder why muggles had been allowed to make a movie about magical creatures and a muggle child was more likely to ask if the magical creatures seen in the movie were real. The movie would also provide a nice opening for Harry to bring up the subject of magic on the off chance that Naruto did not ask either one of the expected questions. It was a conversation that Harry knew he needed to have with his cousin because he needed to make certain that Naruto was fully aware of the magical world before he eventually took the kid to Diagon Alley for the first time.

Harry was slowly starting to drift off to sleep in the middle of his plotting and planning when he was jolted back into wakefulness by the sound of his cousin calling his name.

"Harry…?"

"What did you need, squirt?"

"Can…, ano, I mean; may I ask you a question?"

"You are welcome to ask as many questions as you want."

"Is Kreacher one of those hobgoblin things like Broom from the movie?"

Harry arched an eyebrow in surprise, that was not exactly one of the questions he'd been expecting but he supposed he should have considered the possibility that the kid would see the similarities between Kreacher and the hobgoblin from the movie (in behavior and duty if not in looks). He then smiled proudly at his cousin before he drawled, "No, he's not."

"Oh," Naruto replied half in confusion and half in disappointment.

"House elves are closely related to hobgoblins though," Harry added with a slight smirk as he saw Naruto start; his blue eyes growing wider. "Kreacher is what most people would call a brownie."

"Did you just try to prank me, itoko?" Naruto demanded as his eyes narrowed slightly.

"Can you fault a bloke for trying when pranking runs in his blood?"

Naruto tilted his head to one side as open surprise and excitement painted his face as he asked, "Really?"

"Truly; my father was the unofficial leader of a group of legendary pranksters, my godfather was the group's second in command and their number one idea man, and my godson is the son of the man that was the group's main researcher and strategist. I'm also the financial backer for one of the wizarding world's newest joke shops which sells all of the latest pranking innovations and the sole owner of the oldest joke shop still in business in the wizarding world best known for supplying 'classical pranks' to magical children everywhere."

"What kinds of pranks have you done?"

"Well, there was that time I threw fireworks in my rival's potion and made it explode during class," Harry mused as Naruto perched himself on the edge of the coffee table right beside Harry's feet. "Then there was the time I pretended to be a ghost and tricked the school's poltergeist into letting me and my friends escape instead of turning us in for breaking the rules. Oh, and I can't forget the time I tricked this real jerk into freeing his house elf in order to save the elf from the abuse the man's family heaped on him. That one was a classic. My best prank ever didn't get many laughs though."

"What did you do?" Naruto asked curiously as he leaned closer.

"I played dead to trick a terrible, terrible man that was more monster than man and at the same time hurt my friends and those that I considered my family. I had to make the man believe he'd won though."

A stricken look appeared on Naruto's face as he flinched back and hoarsely demanded, "Why…?"

"The answer to that is a very long and very dark story," Harry solemnly stated as he pulled his feet from the coffee table and sat up straight. "It is also a very sad story filled with pain and death. Are you certain you want to hear it?"

"Yes," Naruto answered firmly after thinking about it for a split second.

"Alright. Our story starts with a desperate young witch from a once great family that had fallen on hard times due to the poor decisions a number of her ancestors had made. This young witch was not pretty, had very little magic, and while she was not stupid, she was not very smart. She was also very, very poor and had no hopes of ever achieving her dreams because her father was a bitter old man that belittled her for those things that she lacked. Her name was Merope Gaunt and her dream was to marry the handsome young man she'd fallen desperately in love with the moment she saw him."

"Tom Riddle was the handsome and privileged son of Thomas and Mary Riddle and everything that Marvolo Gaunt, Merope's father, hated; he was rich, rude, and worst of all he was a muggle. When Marvolo learned that his daughter had fallen in love with the Riddles' only son, he was furious with her and ordered her to stay away from him. Merope refused to listen to her father though… she was in love and that was all that mattered in her mind…"

Harry closely watched Naruto's face as he continued to speak of how Merope used a love potion to make Tom Riddle fall in love with her and how Riddle had subsequently left her when she stopped feeding him the love potion at one point; abandoning a pregnant Merope who would later die giving birth to Riddle's son. Harry then spoke of how Tom Marvolo Riddle (Merope's son) grew up in an orphanage where he was often bullied by the older boys, discovered his ability to use magic, nurtured his hatred for those he lived with, and used his magic to get revenge and bully those that had once bullied him. After that, he spoke of Tom's years at Hogwarts and the series of murders he'd eventually commit in his quest for revenge and power; taking care to gloss over the darker details.

The nineteen year old savior didn't fail to notice the troubled look of understanding and guilt that had crossed Naruto's face during that part of the story. Harry knew part of it was because Naruto was an orphan (just like Tom and Harry) but feared the rest was because Naruto knew what it was like to be bullied and had at one point wished to get revenge on those that had hurt him (much like Harry had at one point). The wizard was also certain that Naruto would never follow Tom's dark path due to the way the child had reacted to the choices Tom had made; making Naruto more like Harry and less like Tom.

Not long after that, Harry reached the point in the story where his own history began; though he purposefully left his and his parents' names out of the story because he wanted Naruto to focus on the over all story for now and not on his own personal history. And so Harry spoke of the Marauders, Snape, his mother, and the growing war. Of his mother's and Snape's friendship and their falling out, of the Marauders' borderline bullying, and of the mistakes people make and the lines that they cross when they are angry.

Harry took a short break after that to take care of Teddy and to give Naruto time to absorb everything he'd learned up to that point while the three of them ate steak and kidney pie for supper. He picked up where he'd left off over dessert as they ate treacle tart and vanilla ice cream while Teddy played on the floor with an animated stuffed wolf between bites of ice cream.

This time he covered the history of the Order of the Phoenix (which included a brief history of Albus Dumbledore), the battles his parents and the other Marauders had fought in the escalating war, and the spy in their midst. From there he spoke of the prophecy that had been given, the enemy that had overheard half of the prophecy, the destruction of his own family (again leaving out names), and the Dark Lord's first fall. He then spoke of how the wizarding world celebrated the defeat of the Dark Lord, how the baby was hailed a hero just because he'd not died, and of the chaos that followed as the wizarding world slowly recovered from the terrible war.

The wizard then spoke of the child hero's cold and lonely childhood (still leaving out many details and names) as he supervised Naruto and Teddy's bath. He took care to point out how similar the baby savior's childhood mirrored the Dark Lord's childhood in many ways before pointing out the biggest difference that set both hero and villain apart; their choice in how they reacted to the hate that had been directed at them by those that had been meant to take care of them and the children they interacted with. Harry and Naruto then tucked a yellow haired and green eyed Teddy into bed before they retreated back downstairs to finish the story.

Harry got lost in his memories as he spoke of his first three years at Hogwarts, of the friends he'd made, the adventures he'd inevitably got mixed up in each year, and of the wonders and horrors he'd discovered along the way. He grew tense as he covered his fourth, fifth, and sixth years; each of those years marked by a death that had affected Harry deeply. His voice fairly shook when he reached what should have been his seventh year at Hogwarts; the pain and grief he felt for those that had been lost during that terrible year still as fresh as it had been well over a year ago.

"The death of the Dark Lord Voldemort marked the end of the war, though it will take years before the scars the war left on the wizarding world heal and fade. Even today, people fear to speak the Dark Lord's name for fear that it will bring him back once more," Harry finished tiredly before he sipped at the mug of thick hot chocolate that Kreacher had silently delivered to him at some point towards the end of the story; the silky smoothness of the rich chocolate soothing his sore throat even as it banished the terrible memories that had been stirred during the course of the story.

"_Ano_; who is the Boy-Who-Lived? Why didn't you tell me his name? Do you know his name? What happened to him after he defeated the Dark Lord? And you still didn't tell me why you played that terrible prank to make everyone think you were dead. Were you just copying the boy hero?" Naruto pointed out after a few minutes as he scrunched up his face in confusion.

Harry closed his eyes and sagged back against the couch with a sigh before he quietly answered, "His name is Harry Potter and he is still trying to pick up the pieces of his life after fighting in a war he never wanted to take part in but could not walk away from for fear he would lose those he held dear."

* * *

**Translations:** Japanese to English

Gaki – brat  
Itoko – cousin

* * *

**10-24-15:** _Minor edits made to chapter to fix spelling/grammar mistakes and removed unnecessary author's notes._


	8. Naruto's Story

**Disclaimer:** _All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies and all Naruto characters are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites._

**Warnings:** _AU for parts of both worlds (i.e. kiss canon goodbye), mild character bashing, mild to moderate violence (there are shinobi involved after all), and a few others that will be announced as they crop up. _

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

**Chapter 8: Naruto's Story**

_Friday, August 13, 1999, Night  
No. 12 Grimmauld Place, London, England_

Naruto was having trouble processing what his cousin had just revealed to him. Part of him couldn't believe he hadn't seen the answer earlier because the moment Harry told him that he was the boy hero from the story, it became glaringly obvious based upon everything he'd learned about his cousin over the past week. Raised in a shinobi village like he was, Naruto understood war far better than most children his age did (though that didn't mean he knew the darker side of war) and therefore had a good idea of what Harry had been through during the course of his war.

He also understood his cousin's pain of growing up alone and unloved, surrounded by cold and hateful eyes. Naruto's blue eyes shimmered with unshed tears as he recalled the terrible hours he'd spent locked in the closet before Dudley had let him out. He could only imagine how much worse it would have been to have to live in that tiny closet for ten long years with no one to talk to him or let him out. Naruto glanced up as Harry stirred and the moment he saw the pain and loneliness in Harry's eyes (something he'd not noticed earlier because of how well Harry had hid it), he threw himself at his cousin and hugged him for all he was worth.

Harry tensed the moment Naruto's arms had wrapped around him and Naruto immediately began to think that he'd done something wrong only to feel the man suddenly relax and wrap his arms around Naruto in return. It was the first hug the two of them had shared and for the first time in his life, Naruto finally felt like he'd found his one true home. He'd found his family at last and he just knew that he would be staying with Harry and Teddy for a long, long time.

The two of them sat there holding each other for a long time before something that had been bothering him for a while had Naruto asking, "Harry, what is magic?"

"It is a form of energy."

"But what does magic mean? I don't know that word."

"Oh," Harry exclaimed as he looked at Naruto in surprise. "Are you saying that you don't what magic is because you don't know what the corresponding Japanese word for magic is?"

"_Ano_… I don't know? Maybe?"

"I am such an idiot; I never once considered that the reason you weren't asking me questions about all of the spells I used was due to the word magic being lost in translation. You speak English so well that I sometimes forget that you are still learning the language. Now, what was the incantation for that translation spell that Hermione taught me the other day… oh, yes, I remember now. Naruto, once I cast the spell on myself, I want you to start talking in Japanese so that the spell can pick up enough of the language to properly translate; it won't matter what you say so long as you keep talking. Alright, here we go; _Reddo Lingua_."

"_How will you know whether or not the jutsu you just used will work or not?_" Naruto curiously asked in Japanese as he eyed Harry carefully as he tried to determine whether or not anything had happened. "_What exactly is it that the jutsu you used is supposed to do anyway? And how long am I supposed to just keep talking? Sometimes the things you do and say make absolutely no sense at all, itoko._"

"_That was why rule number four was the most important rule for you to remember; I won't know that I'm confusing you if you don't tell me,_" Harry dryly pointed out in perfect Japanese with just the slightest trace of an accent.

"_Whoa… when did you learn Japanese, itoko?_"

"_I didn't; the spell I cast on myself allows me to speak and understand Japanese for as long as the spell is active. The only drawbacks are that I can only use the spell one time per day, for only one language at a time, and the first language I hear is the language that I will hear and understand. So, if I use it and someone speaks the wrong language, then I will have wasted an entire day because I can't cast the spell again to pick up a different language. On the plus side, the more I use the spell for a single language and the higher the number of different people I hear speaking the language, the faster I will be able to learn that language until I reach the point where I no longer need to cast the spell; at least that was what Hermione told me._"

"_Sugoi. I didn't know that there were techniques that could do that._"

"_I didn't either until Hermione found the spell for me after I mentioned that you were still learning English; she thought it would be useful in case there was ever a time when you and I had trouble getting our point across due to a simple misunderstanding in translation between Japanese and English._"

"_How come you can only use it once a day?_"

"_Any spell that affects the brain is dangerous because it is very easy to mess up someone's mind if you make a mistake and the translation spell actually temporarily rewires the brain of the individual it is cast upon in order to replace the person's native language with the first language they hear. The person won't ever forget or lose their native language but for the duration that the spell is active they will have difficulty speaking or understanding someone speaking any language except the one that the spell targeted. Hermione would be able to explain the theory behind the spell better; I just know how to cast it and the basics of what it is supposed to do._"

"_That is so cool, dattebayo! I wish I'd had a technique like that when I was first learning English. It took me and my Kage Bunshin weeks before I could read, write, and speak it even a little bit and the lessons were so confusing at first._"

"_It takes most people years to learn how to speak any new language fluently; so the fact that you can speak English well enough to pass as a native English speaker after studying the language for less than a year is nothing short of impressive since you didn't use magic to speed up the process,_" Harry pointed out with noticeable pride.

"_Magic…?_" Naruto asked skeptically.

"_Yes, magic; what else did you think it was I was doing each time I used my wand?_" Harry inquired as he held up said wand and wriggled it back and forth to draw Naruto's eyes to the stick for the first.

"_I thought you were just using chakra… like the shinobi back home do,_" Naruto weakly replied as he continued to stare at the wand in Harry's hand. "_You aren't just fattening me and Teddy up so you can eat us for dinner; are you?_"

"_What!? No! Where would you get an idea like that!?_"

"_You just said you were a witch and I read that witches feed kids lots of candy until their fat enough to eat and then they push them in the oven to cook them up for supper,_" Naruto nervously replied. "_And you've been giving me and Teddy lots of candy and stuff lately._"

"_Ah, the story of Hansel and Gretel,_" Harry murmured in understanding. "_That was a German fairy tale written by a pair of brothers that traveled all over Europe collecting folk tales. The tale of Hansel and Gretel is actually based upon a hag, not a witch. And the word 'witch' refers to a woman that can perform magic; men are typically called wizards. So there will be no eating of children by me or any of my friends; I much prefer treacle tart._"

Naruto eyed Harry carefully for a moment before he relaxed and muttered, "_Okay._"

"_I'm rather curious as to what you meant when you said that you thought I was using chakra. What exactly is chakra and what is it that a person does with chakra?_"

"_Iruka-sensei said that chakra was made up of a person's mental energy and a person's physical energy. When a shinobi combines both mental and physical energy in the correct amounts it creates chakra. A shinobi uses his chakra to perform different kinds of jutsu. He can make himself stronger or faster or use it to climb up a wall or walk on the water. Iruka said that everyone was born with a chakra network but not everyone develops their chakra coils._"

"_You're talking about a person's life force,_" Harry gasped as he sat up straighter. "_Someone taught you how to use your life force to affect the world around you!? Merlin, Maeve, and Mungo preserve me from the idiocy of others! You could have seriously injured yourself if you drew too much at once or worse, killed yourself because you used up your entire life force and didn't leave yourself enough physical energy to keep your heart beating._"

"_All shinobi learned how to mold their chakra as soon as they were old enough to attend the Academy,_" Naruto pointed out as he eyed Harry carefully since his cousin was obviously upset. "_The earlier a person starts learning, the easier it is for them to learn and the easier it is for them to increase the size of their chakra reserves. If you're too old when you start learning, then your chakra coils will stay rather small and you'll get tired really quickly which means you'll never be a very good shinobi._"

"_That's not entirely true…_" Harry started to counter before he trailed off. "_Well, I suppose it would be true for someone without a magical core since they don't have the ability to heal the internal stress caused by forcefully expanding the coils of your life force._" Harry paused again and frowned as he recalled the strange clones that Naruto had made. "_You went to one of those academies. How old were you when they sent you to the Academy?_"

"_Six._"

"_Six? And just how long do you have to attend lessons at the Academy?_"

"_At least four years but most people stay in the Academy until they're at least twelve. You can't graduate unless you can pass the test._"

"_Okay, that's not as bad as I thought it was… for a moment it sounded like the village you lived in was turning children into soldiers. Well, it still sounds like that but I don't suppose I have any room to complain seeing as how I was basically trained as a child soldier from the moment I entered the wizarding world and I was only eleven at the time._"

"_Ano… what is magic? Is it like chakra at all? Where does it come from? Can anyone use it?_"

"_No, magic is nothing like chakra; what you call chakra is what we call life force. Magic, on the other hand, is a form of pure energy that allows the wielder to alter the world around them. Every single life form, including plants and animals, are born with a life force while only a small number are born with a magical core. The magical core is where a person's magic is made and stored; the larger a person's core, the more magic they can produce and store. And only those who are born with a magical core can use magic._"

"_Do you think it's possible that I have one of those core thingies?_"

"_I'm afraid not, the magic in our family was passed down through my grandmother's side of the family and not through our common ancestor._"

"_Does that mean that I will have to leave?_"

"_Absolutely not!_" Harry adamantly declared as he reached out to cup Naruto's face. "_It does not matter to me whether or not you have magic; all that matters is that we are family. And we will always be family; no matter what._"

Naruto stared up at his cousin with wide blue eyes that glistened with suppressed tears as he felt an unexpected warmth fill him in response to his cousin's declaration. Fear filled the eight year old a heartbeat later as he recalled the terrible monster that was contained inside of him and he pressed his hands over the hidden seal on his stomach. Guilt ate away at him over the knowledge that he was hiding the presence of the Kyuubi from his cousin. He was also terrified that his cousin would hate him the moment he learned about the nine-tailed fox.

"_Is there something wrong, Naruto?_"

"_I don't want you to hate me,_" Naruto confessed in a tiny voice as he pulled away from Harry and curled in on himself.

"_I could never hate you, Naruto,_" Harry gently corrected as he reached out to run his fingers through Naruto's hair and Naruto flinched away from the contact out of habit. The hand fell away and Naruto swallowed thickly and squeezed his eyes closed as he just knew he'd made his cousin angry. "_I might get upset once in a while over something you say or do because every one looses their temper from time to time but just because I get angry doesn't mean that I will hate you._"

"_That's only because you don't know what I am._"

"_And what is it you think you are? Because all I see is a boy who had enough courage to make a journey halfway around the world all alone to meet with distant relatives he didn't even know._"

"_I'm a monster; a… a demon and a freak._"

"_No you are not,_" Harry firmly stated as he scooped Naruto up onto his lap and wrapped his arms around him. "_Aunt Petunia was wrong to call you those names._"

"_It wasn't just cousin Petunia that called me those things,_" Naruto confessed as he burrowed his face against Harry's chest; he was feeling torn between basking in the comfort his cousin was offering him and suffering under the guilt, pain, and fear he felt over his past treatment at the hands of the villagers and most of the shinobi of Konoha. Two seconds later, he gave into the need and desire for someone to accept him for him and he began to pour his heart (and therefore his life's story) out.

"_Everyone always hated me and called me names or beat me up if I couldn't get away from them when they chased me. I didn't know why they hated me until I found out the truth about the Kyuubi and learned that jijii lied to me! He said the villagers were just angry because I played pranks on them but they hated me long before I started playing pranks. He let them beat me up, chase me out of the stores, charge me extra money for rotten food, and call me terrible names when he could have ordered them to stop because he was the Hokage. He said he cared about me and told me that the villagers would like me one day but if he lied about everything else, then he could have lied about that too._"

"_I know he lied to me about my parents; he said he didn't know who they were and he let me think that they hated me like everyone else. All I ever wanted to know was if I belonged to someone and he let me think that no one wanted me. After I learned the truth, I couldn't stay there any longer. I was so angry… I took back everything that belonged to my parents before I tricked the AnBu on duty with a Kage Bunshin and ran away to find my uncle. I was so scared that he wouldn't want me either but I had no where else to go and no one I could trust._"

"_I was so scared once I escaped the village. I thought for sure someone would figure out that I'd run away and hunt me down to drag me back to the village. There were so many times I feared I got lost as I made my way to the portal to the Outer Countries and I was chased by bandits once. I almost turned back a couple of times because I was so scared but I didn't want to give up and I was more scared of the trouble I'd be in if I did go back. I was also scared that everything I'd read about the Outer Countries was nothing more than a trick that someone was playing on me._"

"_I was so happy when I learned it wasn't a trick after I found the portal and opened it with my chakra. Once I was on this side of the portal, I got scared all over again when I finally saw my first city. It was so huge and the air was dirty and smelly and the cars were frightening and loud. I almost wanted to run back through the portal but I was determined to find Kichiro-oji. I was there for a couple of days before one of my clones ran into Naoki-jijii and he asked me to meet with him so he could help me; he said it was his job to help those that traveled through the portals._"

"_Naoki told me my uncle had passed through the same portal that I did and he spent a long time looking for him while I was being taught all kinds of things they said I would need to know to stay on this side of the portal. They even let me practice the stuff I learned in the Academy and showed me the right way to do all of the taijutsu stances I was supposed to have learned at the Academy; only I had been taught wrong by my old instructors because they all hated me. It took Naoki-jijii a long time to find out what had happened to Kichiro-oji and he told me that Kichiro married a girl named Rose and they had two girls before they died in a car crash._"

"_Naoki thought Lily had died because she disappeared after she turned eleven but he found Petunia and he bought me my tickets and made sure I had all my paperwork and stuff so that I could meet her. I was so scared at first when I got on the plane but it was so cool to see everything from so high up in the air. And the world was so big! I didn't think it would be that big but it was and there were so many big cities; I could see all of the lights at night and it looked like someone had spread fireworks all over the ground._"

"_Everything was so perfect and then… and then Petunia was so mean. She knew what I was the moment she looked at me. She called me the same names that the villagers had called me and looked at me with those cold eyes. Then she shoved me in the closet and Vernon talked about killing me and burying me in the backyard when I yelled at them to let me out. They were just like everyone else… except Dudley. Dudley was nice and he gave me food and let me out of the closet and he let me stay in his room. And even though he told me you were really nice, I was so scared that you would hate me too._"

Naruto paused as the memories of the week he spent with the Dursleys flashed before him and he couldn't quite suppress the shudder that ran through him. He was so wrapped up in those terrible memories that he forgot he wasn't alone until he was drawn back to the present by the feel of a hand rubbing circles on his back. Tears burned the back of his eyes as he imagined his cousin shoving him away once he learned the truth about the monster inside of him.

"_Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon used to call me all kinds of names when I lived with them,_" Harry quietly confessed as he continued to rub Naruto's back. "_The one they used most often and the one I hated the most was freak. At the time I didn't understand why they kept calling me a freak and telling me that I was unnatural until I learned about my magic and that they had been aware that both of my parents were magical. Aunt Petunia was jealous of me and my mother and the things that magic allowed us to do and that jealousy eventually turned to hate._"

"_The reason why she called you those names was because she thought you were a wizard just like me after your clone was destroyed when she hit it. All she saw was another person that had been granted an ability she'd desperately wished had been hers and she took it out on you. She was wrong. They were all wrong. There is nothing wrong with you and you are not a monster or a freak; you are a child. And like any other child, you deserve to be protected and cherished._"

"_I'm not like other children,_" Naruto protested as he leaned back to meet Harry's gaze with turbulent sapphire eyes.

"_What makes you think you are any different than any other child out there?_"

"_I have a demon inside of me._"

"_Naruto, just because a bunch of stupid people called you terrible names, doesn't mean that you…_"

"_It's true! My father made me a demon the day I was born!_"

"_What are you talking about, Naruto?_"

"_The day I was born the nine-tailed demon fox attacked Konoha and nearly destroyed it. The Yondaime Hokage, my father, fought the demon and he was supposed to have killed it. The instructors at the Academy told all of the children that the Yondaime killed the Kyuubi but they were all lying. Demons can't be killed. The Yondaime sealed the Kyuubi inside of me so he could save the village. That's why the village hates me; I'm the Kyuubi. My father turned me into the Kyuubi._"

"_I'm not buying it. There is no way you could possibly be a demon; for one thing, you don't look anything like a fox aside from the whisker marks on your cheeks and those look more like tattoos. You also haven't attacked any one during the time we've been together and I'm pretty certain a demon would not laugh and play with Teddy._"

"_But… but I have the seal on my stomach and… and the notes and stuff I found in my file said I was the container for the Kyuubi and that my mother had the Kyuubi in her until it got out and tried to destroy Konoha and she died._"

"_Okay, now I'm really confused. What exactly is this demon fox supposed to be? How exactly is a demon supposed to be sealed inside of a person and why the hell would anyone seal a demon inside of a person?_"

"_I don't know,_" Naruto nervously replied as he sensed Harry's growing frustration.

"_Do you know who will be able to answer my questions?_"

"_The old man probably knows but I don't want to go back there. My parents would probably know too but they're dead._"

"_What about the files you mentioned? Would they have some of the answers I am looking for?_"

"_Maybe… oh, I know! I have a bunch of scrolls and stuff I copied that might explain things better,_" Naruto replied as he jumped up from Harry's lap and darted out of the room.

He rushed up to the bedroom that Harry had allowed him to stay in since they first arrived and tore through his things until he found the giant scroll that he'd sealed all of his things into. The moment he wrapped his arms around the scroll, he headed back down to the parlor where he found Harry sitting right where he'd left him. The eight year old dashed right up to his cousin and dumped the huge scroll on his lap.

"Everything I took from Konoha is sealed in there," Naruto explained when he noticed the confused look on Harry's face.

"_In Japanese, Naruto; I am unable to understand English as long as the translation spell I cast earlier remains active._"

"_Oh, gomen, itoko; I forgot. Everything I took from the village before I ran away is inside of this scroll,_" Naruto stated as he untied the string that held the scroll shut and unrolled it to reveal the rice paper watercolor painting that hid the actual seals. "_Oh, I forgot about the painting that Naoki-jijii stuck to the paper to hide the seals._"

Naruto channeled chakra into the painting to release the seal that was holding it in place and carefully separated the painting from the scroll and rolled it up so that it could be replaced on the storage scroll if the need arose. He then bit down on his thumb hard enough to draw blood that he spread across each of the seals that were holding anything that he thought might have the information that would help Harry understand the monster he had been turned into. Tears filled his eyes and his hands shook with each seal he released as he struggled against the desire to pretend the entire thing was a prank so he could hide the truth from his cousin.

There was a part of him that needed to protect his cousin from the monster inside of him though and the only way that he knew to do that was to make his cousin understand just how dangerous it was to keep him around. Even if the older boy ended up hating him because of the Kyuubi, at least Naruto would always have the memories of the last few weeks to buoy him when the pain of losing his only family threatened to drown him. In a matter of seconds, a huge pile of books, scrolls, and folders were piled up all around the two cousins.

"_That's everything, I think,_" Naruto murmured as he glanced at the haphazard mound of stuff he'd unsealed.

"_It's going to be a long night,_" Harry sighed as he eyed the pile of books, files, and scrolls. "_How did you fit all of that stuff inside of that scroll anyway?_"

"_I drew storage seals to hold it._"

"_Seals? What exactly are seals?_"

"_I guess they're kind of like special drawings made from ink, blood, and chakra that do certain things._"

"_Hmm, I wonder if those seal things are anything like runes; I'll have to remember to ask Hermione the next time I speak to her,_" Harry mused before he grimaced at the pile of information that he was going to have to sort through. "_In the mean time, I guess I'd better start going through all of this stuff so that I can get a clearer picture of what you were talking about earlier. Before I can do that though, I'm going to have to see if I can find a translation spell since I can't read Japanese._"

"_Didn't you already use a translation spell?_"

"_Yes, but that spell only targets speech, not the written language; meaning it only targets what I hear, not what I see. So, unless you want to spend the rest of the night reading out loud to me, I'm going to need to make copies of everything you have here and translate it into English._"

Naruto bit his lip as he glanced around him at all of the stuff he'd unsealed from his scroll and contemplated whether or not he should leave Harry to translate it on his own. A year ago, he never would have considered reading any of the stuff he'd brought with him; he'd hated book learning because it was so boring and because he didn't really know how to read very well since Ayame could only teach him so much between serving the other customers. That had been before he'd had all of his lessons with Naoki and his other instructors in Asahikawa though.

In the end, having any excuse to spend just a little more time at his cousin's side before he was chased away the moment his cousin learned the terrible truth was enough for Naruto to ask, "_Which one do you want me to read to you first?_"

"_Why don't we start with the file on our family? I'd like to learn more about the relatives I never knew,_" Harry suggested as he waved his wand at the pile of stuff surrounding Naruto and caused everything to jump about until it was all neatly arranged in several organized stacks by media type.

"_Okay,_" Naruto hesitantly agreed as he picked up the small stack of folders and climbed up onto the couch beside his cousin so that the older boy could see the pictures in the files.

The eight year old spent next three hours reading off the information provided on the birth certificates, death certificates, medical records, and other official documents tucked inside of the file he'd stolen. He also answered as many of Harry's questions as he could. At the end of those three hours, Harry sent Naruto to bed for the night and the blond reluctantly obeyed.

* * *

**Translations:** Japanese to English

Gomen – I'm sorry (informal)  
Itoko – cousin  
Jijii – old man/grandfather  
Ojisan/oji – uncle  
Sugoi - wonderful/wow/awesome or dreadful/terrible (depending on how it is said)

**Translations:** Latin to English

Reddo Lingua – The incantation for the spell that Harry used to translate English to Japanese to help Naruto learn the language better (reddo meaning answer/translate/render or restore/return and lingua meaning language/speech/tongue)

**Techniques/Skills:**

Kage Bunshin no Jutsu – Shadow Clone

* * *

**10-24-15:** _Minor edits made to chapter to fix spelling/grammar mistakes and removed unnecessary author's notes._


	9. Deathly Miscalculations

**Disclaimer:** _All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies and all Naruto characters are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites._

**Warnings:** _AU for parts of both worlds (i.e. kiss canon goodbye), mild character bashing, mild to moderate violence (there are shinobi involved after all), and a few others that will be announced as they crop up. _

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

**Chapter 9: Deathly Miscalculations**

_Friday, August 13, 1999, Late Night  
No. 12 Grimmauld Place, London, England_

Harry watched his little cousin head off to bed with mixed feelings. He wanted to hex someone for putting the child through the hell he'd been through. He also wanted nothing more than to wrap the kid up in his arms and promise him that everything would be alright. Harry knew that it would take time for Naruto to accept and trust him though; too many people had hurt his cousin (emotionally, mentally, and possibly physically) for him to take anything Harry said at face value just yet.

Sighing, the emerald eyed wizard ended the translation charm and promptly winced as he was hit with the backlash of information that his brain had collected while under the spell. That was one aspect of the spell that he hadn't mentioned to Naruto; forcefully rewiring one's brain with magic in order to understand or learn a new language was painful and the longer the spell was held, the more pain that it would produce when released. Harry had a higher tolerance for pain than most people due to his past though, so the headache he was currently feeling did not actually cripple him in any way.

Once the pain had faded to a dull ache, he sat back and contemplated everything he'd learned about his cousin over the course of the evening. The more he learned, the less he actually understood and it was beginning to irritate him. After another hour of running his mind in endless circles, Harry reluctantly climbed to his feet and made his way upstairs to his bedroom; stopping twice to briefly check on both children. Once in his room, he locked the door and approached his old school trunk. Kneeling down in front of the rather worn wooden trunk, Harry lifted the lid of the trunk and pulled back the pile of his old school robes to reveal a locked box made from iron and leather nestled in a pool of shimmering fabric.

The moment his eyes fell on the leather wrapped iron box, Harry pulled out his wand and began unraveling the many spells that protected and sealed the box. Harry pressed his lips together as he carefully collected the box with both hands as soon as the final spell had been released. He sat back on his heels and scowled at the box in his hands as he tried not to think about the two items that he knew were held inside. Despite his wishes, it wasn't long before Harry was pulled back to his memories of the day that he'd left Hogwarts to hunt down the third thief that had stolen the Elder Wand from Dumbledore's tomb and ended up taking possession of both the Wand of Destiny and the Resurrection Stone once he'd returned to the school after reclaiming the wand.

The first person to steal the wand from the tomb had been Voldemort shortly before the Final Battle. Harry had already been the master of the fabled wand at that point. He had won allegiance of the wand after he'd defeated Draco Malfoy during their brief imprisonment at Malfoy Manner; the wand's allegiance had belonged to Draco until that point because the other boy had defeated Dumbledore at the end of their sixth year. The day Harry defeated the Dark Lord once and for all was the day that the world learned that the Elder Wand truly existed because someone had spread the news about Harry turning the wand against Voldemort while Voldemort was using it.

Harry had been a little too free with his taunts during that last fight.

He'd had more than eighteen people challenge him to a duel in the first week after the last of the memorial services had been held for those who had died during the course of the war because of the information about the wand getting out.

The second person to steal the wand from Dumbledore's tomb had been the thief Mundungus Fletcher. Harry had sent Kreacher to hunt the man down for a second time so that Harry could reclaim the wand from the thief (and punch him on the nose for good measure). He'd then had the man delivered to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement along with all of the stolen goods he'd had on him at the time after that. Fletcher was still serving a fifteen year stint in Azkaban for the numerous crimes he'd committed during the course of the war (including swindling, theft, and grave robbing).

The last person to break into Dumbledore's tomb had been Renaldo Lestrange; an ambitious low level Death Eater that had been looking to take up Voldemort's cause. He was also the younger cousin of Rodolphus and Rabastan Lestrange. Twenty-three innocent muggle children had died as a result of that theft before Harry had managed to reclaim the wand once more. It was the guilt of knowing that those children would still be alive if he'd just kept the wand after Fletcher had stolen it that prompted Harry to keep the Elder Wand instead of placing it back in Dumbledore's hands yet again.

Instead, Harry had transfigured a branch of elder into a replica of the wand, hollowed the replica out, and stuffed the inside with a few strands of tail hairs from a thestral to make it look more authentic before he snapped it. The professors of Hogwarts had served as witnesses to the 'destruction' of the Wand of Destiny in order to make the snapping of the wand more believable. The front page article in the Daily Prophet the next day, complete with a close up photo of the broken wand, had further spread the news that the Elder Wand had been destroyed.

Harry had originally tried to destroy the actual wand but the wand never remained broken no matter how many pieces it was snapped into; hence why he'd created the fake one to destroy in its place.

Just before he'd headed back into the castle after replacing the broken remains of the fake wand in Dumbledore's tomb, Firenze had intercepted him and pressed the Peverell Ring with the cracked Resurrection Stone into his hand. The pale centaur had then gravely informed Harry that the herd had grown weary of the souls of the dead wandering through the trees before telling him to keep his possessions out of their forest. It had been a rather surreal conversation in that it was the most direct statement that any centaur had ever given him that did not involve threatening his life.

That had been almost nine months ago and Harry had sealed the two most dangerous Hallows into the leather wrapped iron lock box before tucking them away into his old school trunk at the end of the school term in order to protect them and to help him resist the temptation to use them; he didn't want anyone to know that he had officially claimed all three Hallows. Not even Ron and Hermione knew that he had both the Wand and the Stone, though they were well aware that he still had the Cloak; the Invisibility Cloak had sentimental value after all, since it had once belonged to his father.

Shaking his head to clear away the unwanted memories, Harry lifted the lid of the box to reveal the bone white wand nestled in a bed of red velvet with the ring holding the Resurrection Stone sitting just below the wand. Harry reached out and let his fingers dance along the length of the wand as his mind was assaulted with all of his memories of Dumbledore wielding the Elder Wand. A ghost of a smile briefly flashed across Harry's face as he pulled his hand away from the wand and lifted the ring out of its resting place before he set the open box on the floor beside him.

He stared at the innocent looking ring for a long moment before he closed his eyes and focused all of his thoughts on the one man he was certain could provide him with the answers he needed. Once he had a clear image of Minato Namikaze in his mind based upon the picture that Naruto had shown him and the things his younger cousin had told him, Harry rolled the ring in his hand over three times in order to call on Minato's spirit before slipping the ring onto his right index finger in order to maintain the connection.

His decision to summon that particular soul would have unforeseen consequences though, for he'd not been privy to one all important fact regarding the location of Minato's soul; the Yondaime Hokage's soul had been sentenced to an eternity of torment within the stomach of the Shinigami that the man had summoned when he'd traded his soul for the power to seal the Kyuubi into his newborn son.

"_**Who dares to summon one of the shinigami?**_" a powerful voice demanded as the room was flooded with an oppressive chill.

Harry stiffened as he slowly spun on his heels to stare at the demonic being that was filling up more than half of his bedroom, "Who…? What the hell are you? Why are you here? How did you get through my wards?"

"_**You summoned me without even knowing who I am?**_" the being demanded incredulously.

"I did not summon you! I called upon the soul of my dead cousin because I needed answers from him."

"_**What is the name of the dead soul you called upon?**_" the being asked as he focused his gaze on the ring on Harry's hand and narrowed his eerie black and yellow eyes.

"Minato Namikaze."

"_**That soul belongs to me.**_"

"What do you mean?"

"_**Namikaze traded his soul to me for the power to seal the Kyuubi into a new vessel. I consumed Namikaze's soul and the Kyuubi's yin chakra in exchange for sealing the spirit of the Kyuubi into the chosen child.**_"

"You destroyed my cousin's soul?" Harry demanded in disgust and despair.

"_**No, I consumed his soul. He is still here, inside of me,**_" the being replied with a grating laugh that hurt Harry's ears.

"Still…?" Harry parroted as his eyes dropped to the being's stomach as his mind immediately drew parallels between the creature standing in front of him and the dementors. Anger filled him a heartbeat later as he recalled the pain and desolation of nearly having his own soul eaten by the foul demons back in his third year and the summer prior to his fifth year at Hogwarts. "I demand that you release him at once!"

"_**And who are you to order one such as me about, mortal?**_"

Harry drew himself up to his full height and wrapped his magic around him in a mantel of authority as he replied, "I am Sir Harry James Potter, a Knight of Her Majesty's Realm [Order of Merlin (First Class)], Head of House Potter, Acting Regent for House Black, and both owner and master of all three Deathly Hallows. I care not who or what you are; the soul of Minato Namikaze will be released right here, right now, or so help me… in the names of Merlin, Maeve, and Mungo and all that is unholy, I _will_ make you wish for death before I am finished with you."

"_**Your threats mean nothing to me; I am immortal.**_"

"I am a level five mage who owns and wields the Deathly Hallows," Harry retorted as he held his hand out over the iron lock box and wandlessly summoned the Elder Wand into his hand without taking his eyes from the being. "And you would not be the first immortal being that I destroyed."

"_**You are a brave and powerful little worm, I will give you that. However, that does not change the fact that I can not fulfill your request.**_"

"Why?"

"_**The soul that you wish for me to release is not alone and should I release his soul here and now, then I would be required to release the destructive essence of the Kyuubi that was tied to his soul the night he summoned me to seal the demon inside of a child. To release the Kyuubi in this world would see this world destroyed.**_"

"Isn't there a way to separate the Kyuubi from Minato's soul without letting the Kyuubi escape?"

"_**Yes, but the connection they share would remain whether or not they were separated; they have been tied to one another too long for the thread that connects them to be severed entirely.**_"

"That's good enough for me because it means that there is no reason for you not to release my cousin and do what you have to do to deal with the Kyuubi in order to protect this world from the supposed demon," Harry firmly stated as he crossed his arms and leveled an imperious glare at the being.

The shinigami stared at Harry for a long minute with his otherworldly black and yellow eyes before it grinned down at him (revealing a mouth full of razor sharp teeth) as it replied, "_**As you wish, mortal.**_"

The being then reached into its stomach and pulled free the shimmering soul of a blond haired man that was tangled up with a glowing ball of reddish orange power that vaguely resembled the shape of a giant fox with nine long tails. Harry tensed as he suddenly felt a wave of apprehension wash through him as he warily watched the being grasp his cousin's soul in one hand and the power of the demon fox in his other hand. The being then ripped the two entities apart before he set Minato's soul off to one side.

Harry then made the mistake of taking his eyes off of the demonic being as he turned to make certain that Minato's soul was intact (and take the opportunity to study the man; he was family, after all). Harry had just enough time to see the resemblance between Minato and Naruto before his attention was forcefully drawn back to the shinigami when the being grabbed him by the throat and lifted him up off the floor. Harry attempted to cast a spell at the shinigami using the Elder Wand, only for the being to slap the wand out of Harry's hand before he could think of an appropriate spell to use. The nineteen year old wizard attempted to pry the hand from his neck while lashing out with his feet but his efforts to escape proved futile.

"_**You are an arrogant and ignorant fool,**_" the being rasped as he tightened his hold on Harry's neck; causing Harry's vision to go dark around the edges as his air supply was cut off further. "_**The only reason I am not ripping your soul from your pathetic body in retribution for your arrogance in thinking that you have the right to command one such as I, is that the Hallows have hidden your soul from me and my kin so long as you command their allegiance. However, that will not prevent me from punishing you for your follies.**_"

The moment the being stopped speaking, it plunged the corrosive power of the Kyuubi that it had been holding in its other hand straight into Harry's stomach. Harry had just five full seconds to stare at the shinigami in shock over what it had just done before his entire body was suffused with searing agony as the Kyuubi's chakra and the shinigami's power flowed through his body like molten lava. On top of the pain, he could feel his magic rapidly being drained. If he could have, Harry would have screamed in response to the agony but the hand wrapped around his throat was preventing him from making a single sound on top of denying him oxygen.

A seeming eternity later, the molten lava of corrosive power flowing through his veins contracted and pulled itself down into his stomach before it disappeared altogether as the Kyuubi's essence was locked behind a seal within him. Harry went limp in the sudden absence of pain and hovered on the verge of unconsciousness as he hung limply within the grip of the shinigami. The wizard was jarred back to wakefulness and reality when he was unceremoniously dropped back onto the ground without any warning just a couple of seconds later.

Harry spent almost a full minute coughing and choking on the sweet, sweet air as he gulped breath after breath now that he was no longer being strangled by the demonic being that was still looming over him. Once he could think clearly enough (and his body no longer felt quite so weak), Harry snatched up the wand that had been knocked out of his hand and crawled backwards in order to distance himself from the shinigami in the hopes that it wouldn't grab him a second time. The grating laughter of the shinigami rang through the room once more in response to his transparent ploy and Harry near cringed as the sound grated painfully on his ears.

"_**Congratulations, little mage; you are now host to exactly half of the Kyuubi's soul and power. While the other host was given the Kyuubi's yang chakra and the Kyuubi's consciousness, you now carry the Kyuubi's yin chakra and the Kyuubi's sub consciousness.**_"

"You turned me into another horcrux!?" Harry hoarsely demanded in horror.

"_**In a manner of speaking, yes. However, the fragmented soul you now carry inside of you is so much more than a mere horcrux. After all, immortal demons have no need to shatter their souls in order to tether their spirits to the mortal plane when they cannot truly die. Destroying the fraction of the Kyuubi you hold will not kill the Kyuubi, nor will it turn the Kyuubi into a mortal creature that can be killed. Attempting to destroy the part of the Kyuubi that resides within you will merely kill you and set that part of the Kyuubi free.**_"

"What else did you do to me?" Harry demanded as he tried not to vomit over the revelation that he was once again carrying around the soul fragment of a monster inside of him.

"_**I forcefully expanded your chakra coils in order to allow your body to accommodate the influx of chakra that you will receive from the presence of the bijuu within your belly. If I had left them as they were, your coils would have shattered within twenty-four hours of the Kyuubi being sealed within your body. I was tempted to leave your coils as they were but I did not wish for your suffering to end quite so quickly.**_"

"And my magic?" Harry quietly asked as he felt only a gaping emptiness from where his magic used to reside within his core.

"_**Your core has merely been drained as your magic was required to prevent your chakra coils from rupturing during the expansion process. As much as I would have loved to have stripped your magic from you, I could not touch your core because your soul is still hidden from me and a wizard's core is directly tired to their soul.**_"

"So, what's the catch? I thought this was supposed to be some sort of punishment?" Harry inquired curiously now that he no longer feared that his magic had been ripped from him. "I don't see how sealing half a demon inside of me could be construed as a punishment if all you did was give my life force a boost; aside from the physical pain and the fact that I am once again playing host for yet another monster's horcrux, that is."

"_**The partial soul that resides within you will be unleashed upon this world in the moment of your death and there will be no one in this world that will be able to stop the mindless rampage of the Kyuubi. Your punishment will be in knowing that your death will destroy everything you hold dear and that there is nothing you can do to stop it because you will already be dead. There is also no one in this world that can teach you to control the immense chakra reserves that you will be cursed with due to the presence of the Kyuubi and as such, your body will die within five years time while your soul is forever trapped upon the mortal plane by your magic and the magic of the Hallows and you will be forced to watch the world burn around you.**_"

The demonic being cackled madly for several minutes over Harry's proclaimed punishment before it vanished without a trace; its grating laughter lingering for another minute before silence fell over the room. Harry stared at the spot where the supposed shinigami had once stood before he let out a snort of amusement as a wry grin twisted his lips.

"I suppose it's a good thing that my little cousin seems to like me enough that I could probably talk him into teaching me how to access and use my life force then, hmm?" Harry asked rhetorically as he pushed himself up off of the floor and wearily climbed to his feet; his aching body protesting against the need to support itself. "I guess that particular shinigami forgot to do his research properly. Although, I must say I'm not exactly pleased to be housing another damned horcrux. The first one gave me more than enough problems."

"_It is not wise to mock the death gods_," a solemn voice stated from behind Harry.

"Kind of hard not to mock them when they overlook the obvious," Harry quipped as he turned to glance over his shoulder to take in the spirit of his dead cousin. "Besides, I'm not all that fond of soul-sucking demons and I found it offensive that he'd eaten your soul."

"_Who exactly are you? And why am I here? I was supposed to endure an eternity of torment in exchange for the power I called upon to seal the Kyuubi into my son so that I could protect Konoha from the bijuu._"

"My name is Harry Potter and according to everything I have learned over the past few weeks, I am Kichiro Namikaze's youngest grandson. As for why you are here, I called upon your soul using the Resurrection Stone because according to Naruto, you are one of the few who would be able to provide me with the answers I need to better understand why my little cousin believes that you turned him into a demon. Or rather, why you turned him into a horcrux for a demon based upon what I just learned."

"_You're Kichiro-oji's grandson? Kichiro-oji is still alive then? Sandaime-sama was never certain on whether or not Kichiro survived after he left the Elemental Countries to seek healing in the Outer Countries. I had intended to send an expedition in search of ojisan once things were calm enough that I could spare a team for what would have undoubtedly been a year long mission. You also mentioned my son; did Kichiro-oji finally return to Konoha and bring you and your parents back to the village? And did you just say that Naruto believes that I turned him into a demon!?_"

"Er, no; Kichiro died before I was born and I'm not in Konoha. Naruto left the village to look for Kichiro and he had the misfortune of finding my aunt instead. My cousin rescued him and contacted me and asked me if I would take him in. Poor kid's had a rough time of it according to what little he told me earlier tonight. And I'm not certain exactly what Naruto believes because I don't understand what it is that you did to him and he couldn't really explain it to me because I don't think he even fully understands it himself. The language barrier doesn't help, though Naruto speaks English rather well for having just learned to speak it."

"_Language barrier? What language barrier? From what I can tell, you are speaking Japanese quite well._"

"Actually, I'm not speaking Japanese at all," Harry countered with a small smirk. "Death surpasses all barriers and the power of the Resurrection Stone allows us to understand one another no matter what language we speak."

"_Oh,_" Minato replied as he stared at Harry with no little amount of shock. The man then shook off his confusion and surprise and Harry could practically see his cousin donning a mantel of authority as he straightened up and pinned the wizard with shrewd sapphire eyes. "_I would greatly appreciate it if you could tell me about your life, the story of how you met my son, and what you know of my son's life. Once I have a better understanding of what has been happening since my death, I should be able to answer your questions and provide you with a more detailed explanation of the burden that you now share with my son as the host to half of the Kyuubi's soul and chakra._"

"I'm not going to get any sleep tonight," Harry groused as he tucked both the Elder Wand and his holly wand into his robe pocket and gingerly made his way towards the door. "You might as well follow me downstairs so that I can grab a pot of tea and take a pain relieving potion before we start what promises to be a very long conversation."

Twenty minutes later, Harry was curled up in an armchair in the drawing room with a mug of black tea cradled in his hands as he tiredly repeated his life's story for the second time that day; though, admittedly, he went into far more detail this time than he had when he'd told the same story to Naruto. There was no need for him to skim over the darker aspects of his life's story for his older cousin, after all. Minato occasionally interrupted him in order to get clarification on one point or another but for the most part, the ghost just listened.

He fell silent some three and a half hours later after finally reaching the point where he'd attempted to summon Minato's soul and got the shinigami instead. His cousin had promptly called him several kinds of idiots in response to the way he had arrogantly challenged the shinigami before thanking him for bringing about the end of his torment. Minato had then jumped right into a brief history on the Elemental Countries, the rise of the various Elemental Nations, and a slightly more in depth history of the creations of the Hidden Villages. After that, Minato had gone on to speak of his childhood, his life as a shinobi (and the wars he fought in), and finally of the family he'd made for himself towards the end of his life.

Immediately after telling Harry his life's story, Minato began telling Harry the story of the Rikudou Sennin, the Juubi, and the creation of the nine bijuu. On the heels of that information, the blond ghost spoke of Uzumaki Mito's role as the first host of the Kyuubi and Uzumaki Kushina's roles as the second host to the nine tailed fox. He also spoke more in depth about the Shodai Hokage, Uchiha Madara, and the histories of the Uchiha, Senju, and Uzumaki Clans. The very last thing that the man spoke of was the night of the Kyuubi's attack; the night that he and his wife died.

"_My dying wish was for the citizens of Konoha to see my son as a hero_," Minato finished wearily.

"People need heroes but the only thing that society as a whole wants is someone to blame for all of their insecurities and inadequacies," Harry cynically pointed out with more than a little bitterness due to his own less than pleasant dealings with the wizarding society turning on him more than once at the drop of a hat.

"_Did you still have any questions?_" Minato asked after several minutes had passed.

"A few… Do you know why the shinigami said that I would die in five years if I do not find someone to teach me how to control my chakra? From what I understand about the way a person's life force works, not developing the ability to control chakra shouldn't reduce my life expectancy."

"_In most cases, it would not matter whether or not you learned how to control and mold your chakra. Unfortunately, because you now house half of the Kyuubi's soul and its chakra it is imperative that you learn how to mold and use your chakra in order to develop at least a Chuunin level of control over your chakra. The reason for that is because the seal that was used to lock part of the Kyuubi's soul into you will continuously siphon chakra from the Kyuubi's soul that it will convert and feed into your reserves; that is the seal's method of preventing the Kyuubi from gathering enough power to break the seal as the bijuu's soul continuously produces chakra._"

"_If you do not learn to mold chakra, then your coils will not be exercised and they will grow weaker as you age. In that case, the constant influx of the converted demon's chakra will place undue stress upon your weakened coils which would result in your chakra network rupturing in approximately five years time. If the rupture is severe enough to shatter your coils completely, then you would die a very painful death. In order to avoid that, you would need to regularly exercise your chakra coils and to do that you must at least learn how to use the basic three chakra control exercises._"

"Okay, I suppose that at least makes sense…" Harry murmured as he tiredly ran a hand over his face. "Next question; is the fact that I am now holding the other half of the Kyuubi going to cause any problems with Naruto? For example, am I going to have to avoid all physical contact with him out of fear of the two halves of the Kyuubi trying to reunite itself into one being?"

"_No, the split is permanent; one does not sunder a soul lightly and a soul that has been sundered is not so easily fused back into a single soul. In some ways, the two halves of the Kyuubi's soul are no longer part of the whole due to the nine years that your half of the soul spent tied to my soul on top of the time spent inside of the stomach of the shinigami. Your half of the Kyuubi's soul has experienced a form of death while Naruto's half of the Kyuubi's soul has not. It is even possible that both halves of the Kyuubi's soul could now be considered separate entities; despite the fact that they are both incomplete. The seals would prevent the two halves of the Kyuubi escaping even if that wasn't true._"

"I'm not sure whether to consider that a good thing or not. At least I won't have to push Naruto away; he's been starved of positive physical contact and comfort for far too long for me to deny him a hug whenever he needs one. Moving on, I am still a little confused on what you mean by seals… What exactly are seals? How do they work? Do the seals holding the Kyuubi have any weaknesses that I need to be worried about? Do I need to worry about someone attempting to break the seals?"

"_Seals are the building blocks we use to mold chakra; there are hand seals that aide one in using a wide assortment of jutsu and there are written seals that allow us to create timed explosions, barriers to protect our homes, store supplies inside of a scroll, or lock one of the bijuu into a living host or non-living vessel. I suppose you could liken the basic components of all seals to the pieces of a puzzle that has a million different solutions and the order in which you connect those pieces determines what the end result is._"

"_To answer your final two questions; yes, there are weaknesses in all seals and yes, there are those that would seek to release the Kyuubi from you or Naruto in hopes of using its power. There are certain triggers within the seal that will unlock those portions of the seal that prevent the Kyuubi from influencing its host; so long as the trigger is not activated, the Kyuubi will slumber on undisturbed. Once the Kyuubi has been woken, he will undoubtedly attempt to talk you into freeing him by breaking the seal; doing so will kill you and unleash the Kyuubi. The same thing applies to Naruto._"

"_There is also a key that will allow the seal to be 'tightened' or 'loosened' to allow for greater or lesser access to the Kyuubi's chakra – that key is currently being guarded by the toads. The only one that would be able to access the key now that I am dead is my old sensei; Jiraiya. There are other ways to open the seal though; especially if the seal has been weakened. That was how Madara managed to extract the Kyuubi from Kushina shortly after she'd given birth to Naruto due to the pregnancy and birth of our son weakening the seal. On top of that, there are counter seals that could disrupt the Hakke no Fuuin Shiki._"

"_Despite the potential threat to you and Naruto, it is not something that you really have to worry about on this side of the Great Barrier that separates the Elemental Countries from the Outer Countries. There are very few individuals within the Elemental Countries and fewer still out here in the Outer Countries that actually have the knowledge, control, and power to open or disrupt the seals. If someone does manage to disrupt your seals, your best bet would be to seek out Jiraiya as he would have the knowledge, control, and power to fix or reverse the problem; if you can reach him before the Kyuubi breaks free or is extracted._"

"Okay, that's a disturbing bit of information but I suppose it isn't completely unexpected," Harry stated as he stared at Minato with wide eyes as he tried to wrap his mind around the information he'd just been given about seals.

"_Was that the last of your questions?_" Minato asked when Harry didn't immediately ask another question.

"No, but I think I'm going to need time to process everything I've learned tonight before I attempt to cram any more information into my brain. In the mean time, I'll release your spirit so that you can return to the afterlife and just call you back when I'm ready to finish our conversation; so long as you're willing, that is."

Minato nodded to show his willingness to return at a later time and Harry said a brief goodbye before he slipped the ring holding the Resurrection Stone from his right index finger in order break the connection that was holding his cousin in the world of the living. Believing the matter dealt with, Harry pocketed the stone and wearily rose to his feet so that he could head back upstairs to his room and get a few hours of sleep. He hadn't taken more than three steps in the direction of the door when he learned there was a slight problem.

"_Ne, ne; do you think you could send me into the afterlife now, itoko? I'm looking forward to seeing Kushina for the first time in almost nine years._"

Harry jerked his head around in shock to find Minato's spirit still standing (more like hovering) in the middle of his drawing room. He then dropped his gaze to his right hand to confirm that he'd taken off the ring (he had) before he glanced back up to stare at his cousin in confusion as he demanded, "Why are you still here, Minato? You should have disappeared the moment I released the connection to the Resurrection Stone."

After spending close to twenty minutes trying to send Minato's spirit onto the afterlife, Harry began to suspect that the shinigami had done something to Minato's soul to prevent it from moving on. At that point, Harry's temper had grown dangerously short and he had a migraine on top of the lingering soreness he felt from the forced expansion of his chakra coils. So Harry told Minato to make himself at home while he got some much needed sleep; he'd approach the problem from a different direction the moment it no longer hurt to think.

* * *

**Translations:** Japanese to English

Itoko – cousin  
Ne, ne – One way of getting someone's attention, can be a sort of childish way of saying hey, hey!  
Ojisan/oji/jisan – uncle or mister (when used by a non-relative).  
Shinigami – death god or soul reaper

**Techniques/Skills:**

Hakke no Fuuin Shiki – Eight Divination Signs Seal Style

**Notes:**

The reason why Minato did not appear as a Jinchuuriki when pulled from the shinigami's stomach was because it was just his soul being pulled free; i.e. he was not resurrected via Edo Tensei and placed into a body. And IMO, a soul can not be shoved inside of another soul so therefore, Minato's soul and half of the Kyuubi's soul were merely tangled up together and the bond between them exists because their souls were tied together through the jutsu that Minato used to summon the shinigami and seal the Kyuubi.

More information on exactly what happened (as I interpreted it) on the night of the Kyuubi's attack will be presented within the story in a few chapters.

* * *

**10-24-15:** _Minor edits made to chapter to fix spelling/grammar mistakes and removed unnecessary author's notes._


	10. The Fallout

**Disclaimer:** _All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies and all Naruto characters are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites._

**Warnings:** _AU for parts of both worlds (i.e. kiss canon goodbye), mild character bashing, mild to moderate violence (there are shinobi involved after all), and a few others that will be announced as they crop up. _

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

**Chapter 10: The Fallout**

_Saturday, August 14, 1999, Morning  
No. 12 Grimmauld Place, London, England_

Naruto reluctantly dragged himself out of bed once he woke up; the not quite nine year old filled with trepidation over how his cousin would treat him now that he knew about the Kyuubi. He was half tempted to hide in his room all day but the rumbling of his stomach had him quietly slipping out of his room in search of breakfast. When he finally reached the dining room, Naruto was rather shocked when he saw Hermione seated at the table feeding Teddy his breakfast instead of Harry. That, of course, had him worried that Harry was so disgusted with him that his cousin couldn't even stay in the same house with him.

"Good morning, _neechan_," Naruto timidly called as he hesitantly stepped into the room.

"Good morning, Naruto," Hermione greeted warmly in return as she glanced in his direction to offer him a smile.

"Did Harry leave? Is that why you are here?"

"No, Harry hasn't left; he's still sleeping. Kreacher called me about an hour ago and requested some help in watching over Teddy until Harry woke up."

"_Ano_… Harry never oversleeps… is there something wrong with him?"

"Nothing that a few good hours rest can't cure; he is suffering from magical exhaustion and he apparently didn't crawl into bed until shortly after dawn this morning. You wouldn't happen to know what he was doing last night, would you?"

"_Ano_, we spent a long time talking and he used the translation thingy you told him about because I was confused and he needed to explain something to me. It was really late when he sent me to bed after he promised me we could finish our talk today."

"I suppose that would explain his exhaustion then; the translation spell can take a lot out of you if you use it for extended periods of time," Hermione murmured as she turned back towards Teddy and deftly fed the toddler another bite. "What were the two of you talking about so late?"

"Just stuff," Naruto hedged as he sat down in his usual seat after Kreacher popped in with a bowl of cereal, a small pitcher of milk, a plate of bacon, and a glass of orange juice for his breakfast.

"Ah, I see; the two of you were having one of _those_ conversations," Hermione knowingly replied as she briefly glanced in his direction. "Say no more. I can guarantee that he will be up in a few hours and that he'll make time for the two of you to finish your discussion at some point; Harry's pretty good about keeping his promises. In the mean time, I'm certain that Teddy and I can keep you occupied."

Hermione's idea of keeping him occupied involved singing silly songs and rhymes with Teddy after breakfast. Each of the songs were designed to teach young children things like the alphabet, the numbers from zero to twenty, the colors of the rainbow, the sounds that different animals make, and the days of the week. They were kind of fun for Naruto to learn, even if he thought they were a bit childish; if only because he'd never had anyone teach him those kind of songs before. It helped that Teddy loved the songs despite the fact that he didn't know all of the words (or any of the words really); the toddler mostly just clapping along or babbling to the tune of the song.

When Teddy finally grew tired of sitting still and listening to the songs, Naruto migrated down onto the floor with the toddler and the two of them played with an assortment of magical and non-magical baby toys. Teddy's favorites seemed to be the building blocks and the animated stuffed animals that acted like real animals. Naruto stuck to building complex towers out of the non-magical blocks for Teddy and the magical stuffed animals to knock down while Hermione watched over them and read a book at the same time. The infectious laughter of the one and a half year old helped Naruto to forget his fears for a short while as the toddler squealed happily each time Naruto built him a new target.

Once Teddy was put down for his mid-morning nap, Naruto retreated to the bedroom he'd been using since they arrived and spent the next two hours working on his chakra control exercises; something he'd not really had time to do every day because he'd spent nearly every waking hour with Harry and Teddy. He was more than a little frustrated to know that he'd lost quite a bit of control due to ignoring his daily exercises for nearly two weeks and quickly resolved to never again miss a single day. When lunch time rolled around, Naruto left behind fifty clones to continue working on chakra control; fifteen to work on Ha no Noudo, fifteen to use Kinobori no Waza, five to use the tub in the nearest bathroom to work on Suimen Hokou no Waza and fifteen to practice the Henge no Jutsu.

The moment he saw that his Kage Bunshin were working as instructed, Naruto slipped out of his room and headed back downstairs. He paused outside of Harry's door and debated on whether or not he should check on his cousin for a few minutes before he backed away from the door and hurried on his way to the stairs with his eyes firmly glued to the floor; he was not in a hurry to his cousin look at him with cold eyes. Naruto had just reached the staircase when he collided with an unexpected body blocking his path and was knocked backwards onto his butt.

"_Oi_, who put up a brick wall on the stairs," Naruto complained as he as he reached up to rub his sore nose before leaning back to get a good look at what or rather who he'd run into. The unfamiliar man towered above Naruto and was dressed in blood red robes that clashed with his flame red hair.

"The same person that unleashed a living bludger in the house, I'd imagine," the man quipped with a smirk as he leaned down and offered Naruto a hand up. "You must be the little midget that set my baby sister off."

"I didn't do anything to anyone, _dattebayo_!" Naruto denied as he scrambled back away from the man and climbed back up onto his feet on his own.

"I wouldn't say that; after all, you helped saved Harry from the one thing he hates above all else," the man countered solemnly as he tucked his hands into his pocket.

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

"You saved my best mate from the most frightening thing in the world; an obsessive fan-girl. I love my little sister dearly but even I know that Harry hates having his private life on display for the general public. He never should have gotten back together with Ginny after the war but Harry has a hard time telling the people he cares about no and Ginny was still in love with the idea of marrying her Knight in Shining Armor. She never saw Harry for who he was, she only ever saw the Boy-Who-Lived. She's also got quite the temper and a stubborn streak a mile wide but she'll eventually apologize for the things she said."

"_Ano_…"

"Don't worry about it, runt; you did a good thing," the man assured him.

"Who are you?" Naruto asked in favor of ignoring his confusion.

"I'm Ron, Ron Weasley. And you are Naruto, right?"

"Yeah, how did you know?"

"I'm dating the smartest witch in the world," Ron declared with a wide grin. "Hermione knows just about everything there is to know and she told me all about you. She also sent me up here to see if you and Harry were going to be coming down for lunch."

"I was on my way down to the dining room when I ran into you."

"I guess that means I just have to drag Harry out of bed."

"_Ano_… won't that just make him mad?"

"Nah, Harry hardly ever gets mad anymore; not like he did when we were still in school. He spent most of his fifth year biting everyone's head off. Come to think of it… he was like that all through our sixth year and during the year we were on the run from the Death Eaters too. He was really stressed out all the time back then though. Anyway, let's go wake sleeping beauty up so we can go grab some grub."

Naruto felt his stomach twist up in knots as he reluctantly followed along behind the towering redhead; he just knew that Harry was going to be mad if they woke him up. That or his cousin was going to get angry the moment he saw Naruto in his room. Far sooner than he would have wished, Ron was throwing the door to Harry's bedroom open and striding into the room without even bothering to as for permission.

"Time to rise and shine, ickle Harrikins!" Ron called out as he directed a stream of ice cold water at the bed using his wand while Naruto gaped at the redhead in astonishment; was the man an idiot?

The water hit the bed just seconds later and Naruto cringed in anticipation of Harry yelling at the two of them or worse, using that angry, icy voice he'd used at the end of the fight with his former girlfriend. After two full minutes of silence, Naruto's fear turned to concern because not only did Harry not wake up screaming and yelling; the pile of bedding on the bed didn't even twitch. The non-reaction apparently bothered Ron as well since the redhead frowned before he strode right up to the bed and yanked the covers back to reveal nothing but a pair of soaked pillows. Harry wasn't in his bed.

"Is there any particular reason why you felt the need to barge into my room and soak my bed, Ron?" Harry asked in an exasperated tone from where he was standing in the doorway to the private bathroom that was attached to his bedroom.

"Er, Hermione sent me to wake you up for lunch?" Ron asked nervously as he sheepishly rubbed the back of his head as he turned to face the shorter wizard.

"You're lucky I'm far too exhausted and sore to hex you right now or you'd be sporting tentacles, horns, and boils in uncomfortable places for the next month," Harry deadpanned as he shoved himself away from the doorjamb and shuffled across the room towards Naruto. "What are you doing here anyway? Don't you have training today?"

"I'm on my lunch break; Hermione's been pestering me to come meet your little cousin for the last week and since she was here watching the rugrats for you, I thought I'd come eat lunch here instead of eating in the cafeteria again. I should have dropped by sooner to make certain you were alright after the breakup but they've kept us so busy that we've barely had time to think, let alone sleep or eat."

"You aren't mad that I broke up with your sister?" Harry asked in surprise as he paused and glanced sharply at the other man.

"Nah, Ginny was way out of line. She had no right saying those things she said about the kids. Mum's been beside herself with worry about you taking care of the boys all by yourself and Dad actually laid into Ginny about the whole press conference thing she set up without your permission. Everyone knows you hate reporters."

"Thanks," Harry murmured with obvious relief before he turned his attention to Naruto. "Hey, Naruto, I'm sorry that I ignored you all morning; I got a little sidetracked by the research I did last night after you went to bed. I hope you didn't get too bored."

"Hermione had me helping her with Teddy," Naruto replied with a shrug as he eyed Harry carefully; noting the way he moved like an old man when he walked (as if his entire body was in pain) and the dark smudges beneath his eyes.

"Well, I hope you at least had a fun time playing with Teddy."

"Enough chitchatting," Ron groaned as he pushed Harry towards the door. "There's food waiting downstairs and I only have another half an hour before I have to go back at the Academy."

"Why don't you go ahead and let Hermione know I'm on my way down?" Harry suggested around a wince. "It's going to take me a good ten or fifteen minutes to make my way down to the dining room and I'd rather not hold you up since you're on borrowed time."

"Did you want me to float you along to save you the trip?" Ron asked with a slight frown of concern.

"No, I'll be fine walking."

"Suit yourself."

And just like that, Naruto found himself alone with his cousin and his earlier nervousness and fear returned. He figured that this would be the moment that his cousin kicked him out and a small part of him was at least grateful that there would be no one around to watch him being disowned by his cousin. The rest of him was both angry and brokenhearted because he'd really liked his cousin and had thought he'd actually found a home.

"You and I have a lot to discuss, Naruto," Harry stated in a voice that sounded both tired and sad as he gently steered Naruto towards the stairs. "After you went to bed last night, I managed to get in contact with someone who was able to explain a great number of things for me. And while I have a much better understanding of exactly what happened to the Kyuubi, I wasn't able to get all of the answers I needed because I was drowning under the veritable flood of information he gave to me and I need time to process what I've learned. I'd prefer to get the answers to the rest of my questions before the two of us sit down to talk about what I learned though, if that is alright with you."

"_Ano_…"

"What is it, Naruto?"

"Why does it matter if we still talk? Aren't you just going to kick me out now?" Naruto blurted out as he stumbled to a stop on the stairs and swung around to stare up at his cousin.

"What makes you think that I'm going to kick you out?"

"Because you know what a monster I am now."

"You're not a monster, Naruto; and you are most definitely not a demon," Harry countered as he dropped his hand on Naruto's head and leaned down so that they were eye to eye. "You are a young boy who was unfortunately given a great burden to bear on the night you were born. More importantly, you are family and that is still all that matters."

Naruto stared at his cousin as he felt his heart rise up into the back of his throat while tears burned at the back of his eyes; a wealth of emotions clashing about inside of him due to his cousin's declaration. A split second later, Naruto threw himself at his cousin; accidentally knocking the teen over in the process. The feel of his cousin's arms wrapping around him in return without any hesitation was a balm to his soul and Naruto buried his face against Harry's stomach in order to hide the fact that he was crying.

After a few minutes, fingers began to gently card through his hair and his breath hitched over the unexpected but not unwelcomed offer of comfort. Unconditional acceptance without any reservations was the one thing that Naruto always wanted but never expected; especially not from someone that knew about the Kyuubi. After he'd learned the truth about the Kyuubi and his parents, he'd been certain that none of those he'd once thought accepted him actually liked him because they'd lied to him all of his life. That was especially true of the Hokage.

To learn that Harry didn't care about the fox, didn't see him as the demon, and still considered him family was nothing short of a miracle in Naruto's mind. The sincerity that he'd read in Harry's eyes had eased his fears far more than the wizard's words had and the sheer relief he had felt in response had opened the floodgates. Eventually, Naruto's tears slowed to a stop and the blond reluctantly sat up so that he could scrub the tears and snot from his face.

"Feeling better now, squirt?" Harry inquired softly as he used a dry section of his shirt to help Naruto clean his face off.

"Yeah."

"I'm glad to hear it. How about we head down and grab us a bite to eat before Ron finishes off our lunch for us, hmm?"

"Would he really do that?"

"If he thought the food was going to go to waste…? Yes. Ron's family is very large and for a long time they didn't really have much money and stretching their limited food supplies between nine people meant that there were times when one or more of them didn't get their fill, so he learned very quickly to eat what was placed in front of him least one of his brothers take it first. Things aren't so rough for the family now but old habits die hard."

Naruto hurriedly scrambled off of his cousin at that point and would have bolted down the stairs in order to get to the dining room before all of the food was eaten if not for the pained groan that Harry had let out. Blue eyes flared wide with worry and guilt as they snapped to the wizard that was still sprawled on the staircase and Naruto recalled the way Harry had been moving earlier (as if he was in pain) and how he'd been the one to knock the older boy down.

"_Gomen nasai_, I didn't mean to knock you down, _itoko_. Did I hurt you?"

"I'm fine, Naruto; just a little sore because I said and did something reckless last night and the being I offended didn't appreciated my disrespect."

"What happened? Who hurt you? Whose butt do I have to kick for hurting you?" Naruto demanded with a scowl as he watched Harry gingerly climb back to his feet.

"You're desire to avenge my own stupidity is admirable but it won't be necessary," Harry countered with a pained smile as he reached out to ruffle Naruto's hair once again. "As for what happened… well, that is something we can discuss later as it ties in with the discussion that you and I will need to sit down and have at some point. For now, let's go join Hermione and Ron before they send out search parties to hunt us down."

Naruto frowned but reluctantly let the matter drop for now; if only because Harry had said that they would talk about it later. The two of them soon joined the others in the dining room and Naruto watched the three teens interacting as he ate; noting that his cousin skillfully deflected the numerous questions the other two asked about what had happened to him during the night. Harry had then changed the subject by asking Hermione about translation spells for written documents before he asked Ron about the training that the redhead was doing.

Occasionally, one of the three adults would ask Naruto a question to draw him into the conversation but for the most part, the blond was content to listen (for once) because he was learning quite a bit about his cousin's life and the magical world. Twenty minutes after they'd sat down, Ron left to return to class and Hermione headed back home to continue her research (the brunette witch was studying magical law in preparation for applying for a position with some place called the Department of Magical Law Enforcement).

Harry then peppered Naruto with questions concerning his training for the remainder of the meal and Naruto gladly talked about the two years he spent in the Academy and the months he'd spent working on the shinobi arts while he was staying in the Elemental District. After the meal, the trio moved to the drawing room where Naruto once again spent the next three hours playing with Teddy while Harry camped out on the couch with a mug of hot chocolate to watch over them. It wasn't until Teddy was put down for his afternoon nap that Harry once more brought up the topic of the research that he'd done after Naruto had gone to bed the night before.

"Naruto, will you be able to keep yourself occupied for a couple of hours? I'm going to track down the individual that was explaining things to me last night so that I can finish the discussion that I started with him last night."

"You're going to leave me and Teddy all alone?"

"No, the guy I'm going to speak to is floating about the house somewhere."

"Oh. How long are you going to be talking to him?"

"I don't know… it depends on how long it takes for him to answer my questions, though I hope to be finished by the time Teddy wakes up from his nap. If I'm not, then I'll just take a break until Teddy's bedtime. I'd really prefer not to leave you bored though, since I'd rather you not wander off into trouble while I was otherwise occupied."

"Could I… could I stay with you while you talk to the man?" Naruto hesitantly asked, his curiosity piqued by the idea that there was another person in the house that knew enough about the Elemental Countries and the Kyuubi to answer his cousin's questions.

"If that is what you want," Harry replied after thinking about it a moment. "That might even be for the best since he could answer any questions you have better than I could and if anyone has the right to meet and speak to him, it would be you."

It was at that point that Harry called for Kreacher and asked the aged elf to track down their newest guest and ask him to join them in the drawing room. Naruto was feeling a mixture of apprehension and anticipation as he waited for the man that Harry had spoken of to arrive; part of him wondering if the man was another one of the guardians that guarded the portals between the Elemental Countries and the Outer Countries. After all, who else would have been able to explain things to Harry? He was therefore completely unprepared for the ghostly shade of the Yondaime Hokage to glide through the wall just five minutes after Kreacher had left the room.

"Ahhhhhhhh!" Naruto screamed in fear as he threw himself backwards to escape from the frightening ghost. "What the hell are you doing here!? You're dead!"

"I called his soul here to get the answers I needed from him," Harry explained as he grabbed the back of Naruto's shirt and pulled him down onto the couch beside him. "Unfortunately, there were a few complications and for some reason I can't send him back to the afterlife where he belongs until I figure out why he is being held here. So, you might as well get used to seeing him wandering about the house."

"You dragged the ghost of the Yondaime Hokage back from the dead and you're going to let him stay here?" Naruto demanded as he whipped around to stare at his cousin in horror. "Why would you want a ghost?"

"He's not going to hurt you, Naruto," Harry quietly stated. "He is not some vengeful spirit that will take his anger out on the living; he's merely a dead soul that has been trapped on the living plane for some reason. And the reason why I called him here was because he was one of the people that you said would be able to answers my questions. I suppose I could have called your mother instead but I thought your father would be the better person to call because he was the one that had sealed the Kyuubi inside of you."

The reminder that his father was the reason why all of Konoha had hated him had Naruto's fear giving way to anger as he whipped his head back around to face the ghost of his father and yelled, "I hate you! It's your fault every one hates me! Why couldn't you just kill the Kyuubi like all of the books said you did! Why did you have to make me a demon!?"

"_Killing the Kyuubi would not have stopped the demon fox; it would have been reborn again a few years later,_" Minato stated wearily as he stared sadly at Naruto. "_None of the bijuu can truly be killed; the only true way to stop the demons, is to seal them away. And there are several reasons why I chose to seal half of the Kyuubi's chakra and soul into you and not into another child. One such reason was the fact that you were the only newborn child in the entire village at the time of the attack and an older child would not have survived the sealing._"

Minato paused for a brief moment before he gently added, "_For what it is worth, I am sorry that the villagers treated you so horribly. I had hoped that they would see you as a hero for the part you played in saving them from the Kyuubi. I guess that I underestimated the fear and hate the village as a whole would harbor towards the Kyuubi for the destruction it caused during the attack. They were wrong though; you are not the Kyuubi. I am also proud of you for not taking out your anger on Konoha for the way they treated you._"

"I'm still mad at you, dattebayo," Naruto stubbornly insisted as he crossed his arms and turned away from the ghost.

"_You really are your mother's son,_" Minato murmured with equal measures of grief and amusement. Minato then turned his attention to Harry as he stated, "_The funny little summons that you sent to fetch me said that you wished to speak with me again, Harry-kun._"

"Yes, I was hoping that we could continue our earlier discussion."

"_Where did you wish to start?_"

"Well, there's one thing that has been bothering me now that I've had time to understand the significance of the tailed beasts and their hosts," Harry began after sending an unreadable look in Naruto's direction. "What kind of repercussions will Naruto likely face once it becomes known that he brought the Kyuubi through one of the portals?"

"_I do not know. I do not think there has ever been another case where a host has passed through one of the portals and there are very few people within the Elemental Countries that actually know that the portals exist. Technically, Naruto never should have been able to discover the existence of the Outer Countries. The only reason that I learned about the portals was because of my status as the Hokage._"

"Damn, I was hoping you'd at least have some kind of idea of what trouble we could potentially face; can't be helped I guess. Do you at least have any idea on whether or not the Kyuubi's presence on this side of the portal will potentially cause problems for the Elemental Countries? Will there be any kind of power vacuum left on the other side because the Kyuubi was taken out? And I'm not talking about political imbalance between the different nations or anything like that… I'm talking about the fact that one of the tailed beasts was removed from behind whatever ward it is that separates the two worlds."

"_The political fallout alone, should the rest of the Elemental Nations learn that Konoha lost my son, will be a nightmare; even the smallest of the shinobi nations would send out every last Jounin they could spare in an effort to be the first to find him and claim him for their village. That could potentially see a number of large armies being sent through the portals if the other nations were to learn that Naruto traveled through one of them. Beyond that, I do not know what sort of consequences there will be for transporting the Kyuubi through the portals._"

"Does that mean that Naoki-jijii is in danger?" Naruto asked in horror as he remembered how Naoki said that it was his job to watch over the portal.

"Not necessarily, Naruto; remember, Minato said that there are very few people that even know the portals exist and you yourself said that it had been hard to find the portal in the first place. I'm sure that there are also plenty of other failsafes in place to prevent large armies from traveling in either direction in order to prevent invasions in either direction."

Naruto felt his fear subside in the face of Harry's calm logic and he let out a small sigh as he dropped back against the couch. He gave his cousin a relieved smile when the emerald eyed teen reached out to ruffle his hair before he covertly studied his father's ghost. Minato wore the green flack jacket, standard navy blue shinobi uniform with a pair of elastic bands tied around the forearms on both sleeves, and a pair of opened toed and open heeled boots. Over top of that, he wore a white short sleeved cloak with red flames on the hem and the kanji for Yondaime Hokage sewn in red on the back. The very last thing that Naruto noted was the hitai-ate tied around his father's head; the stylized leaf peaking out from beneath the man's long blond bangs.

The blond's attention was drawn back to the discussion as Harry continued, "Are you certain that there will be no catastrophic events that will require Naruto to go back through the portal in order to fulfill some wretched prophecy that was made before he was born?"

"_How did you know about the prophecy?_" Minato asked in surprise as he all but gaped at Harry.

Harry laughed low and dark and Naruto shivered in apprehension because there was no amusement in the sound. To the eight year old it sounded more like the pained laughter of a dying man waiting for the kunai of his enemy to strike his heart. Naruto glanced at his cousin in worry and he couldn't help but shrink away from the dark look he saw on Harry's face as his cousin glared at his father's ghost.

"Your son and I have far too much in common for there not to have been a bloody prophecy," Harry bitterly retorted a moment later as the look on his face shifts to one of pained resignation. "No child should be forced to bear the weight of the world on their shoulders. Do you at least know the wording of the prophecy?"

"_No, I was never told the exact wording of the prophecy. Jiraiya only ever said that the Great Toad Sage told him that he would teach the Child of Prophecy and that his student would cause a revolution within the Elemental Countries by either saving the world or destroying the world and that it would be Jiraiya's actions that would determine which path the Child of Prophecy chose. The prophecy does not necessarily refer to my son, though; Jiraiya-sensei has had a handful of students that he has already taught, including myself._"

"You don't believe that; you believe that Naruto is the Child of Prophecy," Harry countered with conviction as he narrowed his eyes at Minato's ghost. "If you didn't, then you would not have sacrificed your own life so casually on the night of the Kyuubi's attack just to seal half of the Kyuubi into your son."

"Does that mean that I have to go back?" Naruto asked in a voice that cracked as he imagined having to leave his cousin just to face an entire village of hate filled eyes again.

"_I am sorry, Naruto; I would never ask you to return if there was another way,_" Minato murmured softly as his cloak swirled around him in an unseen wind.

"How much time do we have before we will have to return to the Elemental Countries?"

"Harry…?" Naruto asked in confusion.

"I'm not about to let you go back to face what sounds like an inevitable war alone," Harry stated in a dry tone. "Even if there wasn't a prophecy involved, I think both of us would have ended up back in the Elemental Countries anyways."

"What do you mean?" Naruto demanded as his brow crinkled in both worry and confusion as his gaze bounced between his father and his cousin.

"I'll explain in a bit, Naruto. Minato, how much time do we have?"

"_By his twelfth birthday as that is the earliest age at which Jiraiya would take him as his apprentice,_" Minato replied after a slight hesitation. "_However, I would recommend that he arrives in Konoha closer to his eleventh birthday in order to give you time to establish yourselves within the village._"

"That only gives us two years to prepare," Harry muttered with a slight scowl and Naruto couldn't help the growing apprehension he felt as the knowledge that he would eventually have to return to Konoha sank in.

* * *

**Translations:** Japanese to English

Ano – uh, um, or huh  
Oneechan/neechan – older sister  
Oi – hey

**Techniques/Skills:**

Ha no Noudo – Leaf Concentration  
Henge no Jutsu – Transformation technique  
Kage Bunshin no Jutsu – Shadow Clone  
Kinobori no Waza – Tree climbing  
Suimen Hokou no Waza – Water walking

* * *

**10-24-15:** _Minor edits made to chapter to fix spelling/grammar mistakes and removed unnecessary author's notes._


	11. Clarification

**Disclaimer:** _All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies and all Naruto characters are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites._

**Warnings:** _AU for parts of both worlds (i.e. kiss canon goodbye), mild character bashing, mild to moderate violence (there are shinobi involved after all), and a few others that will be announced as they crop up. _

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

**Chapter 11: Clarification**

_Saturday, August 14, 1999, Late Afternoon and Evening  
No. 12 Grimmauld Place, London, England_

Harry could feel his little cousin tensing beside him and he just knew that the kid was fretting about the knowledge that he would have to return to the one place that he'd hoped to never see again. Harry felt a thread of guilt eat through his heart over the knowledge that he was half the reason why Naruto would have to return. He also felt uneasy because of the prophecy that was hanging over Naruto's head; even if the existence of said prophecy wasn't really that much of a surprise. Letting out an inaudible sigh, Harry snaked his arm around his cousin's shoulders and pulled him closer so that the blond nestled right up against his side.

"How much of a hassle can I expect to face when it comes times for us to head to Konoha?" Harry inquired once he was certain that Naruto was comfortable.

"_That will depend on whether you chose to enter the village as a civilian, as a merchant or shopkeeper, or as a potential shinobi. It would be easiest to enter as a civilian; however, you're movements would be greatly restricted since Konoha is a military village. If you intend to open a store or become a traveling merchant, then you would have more rights but it is also far harder to get a foot into the village; you'd need to provide a unique product or much needed service and have a solid business plan that shows that your citizenship would be beneficial both economically and commercially._"

"_Lastly, the hardest but most beneficial way to enter the village would be as a potential shinobi. As a shinobi, you'd have far more rights than any civilian or merchant, you'd be guaranteed employment for so long as you are both mentally and physically capable of working, and as a member of the Namikaze Clan, you'd have a voice on the council. The downside to going this route, is that you will be subjected to an intensive interrogation, would be placed on probation for one to five years, prohibited from leaving the village until your probation is over, and likely assigned to a handler for another five to ten years to insure that you do not betray the village._"

"_Furthermore, should you enter the village as a civilian or a merchant; the moment they learn about your ancestry, the Kyuubi, and your magic, the council will seek to turn you into a weapon and attempt to coerce you into repopulating the Namikaze Clan in order to produce future generations of shinobi capable of using magic. The only way to stonewall the council to prevent them from meddling in your life would be to join the shinobi force before that information is made public. As a shinobi, the council would have no say in your life because the Hokage is ultimately responsible for all of the shinobi regardless of their skill level or clan affiliation._"

"_Ano_… the entire village already knows about the Kyuubi, _tousan_," Naruto pointed out as he scrunched up his face in confusion.

"No, they only know about the half of the Kyuubi that was sealed inside of you," Harry corrected absently as he turned over the three options that Minato had given him. "How invasive are the interrogators going to get? If my magic senses that I am under attack, it will lash out; the lethality of the attack would be directly proportional to the level of threat and the amount of pain any such attack produces."

"_You will not be tortured, if that is what you are asking; unless they believe that you are responsible for Naruto's disappearance from the village but I can't see that happening so long as Sarutobi is in charge. Even if he isn't, your status as a Namikaze should offer you some protection and a simple blood test would confirm your ancestry._"

"I imagine that providing the proper documentation would also be paramount to smoothing the way," Harry mused as he closed his eyes and leaned back against the couch. "Okay, I already know that I won't be able to tolerate being treated as a second class citizen; so, entering the village as a civilian is completely out of the question and that would leave going in as a merchant or as a shinobi. As a former leader of the village, can you tell me what would type of product or service would be in the highest demand with the greatest chance of getting me a foot in the door?"

"_Medicinal products and healing abilities are always in high demand; the only problem with going that route is that you'd have to compete with both the Yamanaka and Nara Clans. The food industry would be another potential route to go but not only would you have to compete with the Akimichi Clan, you'd have to compete with all of the other café, bar, and restaurant owners (of which there are many). The only other occupation that I can think of off of the top of my head is a construction or a general repair service; shinobi are forever destroying buildings, furniture, and the environment in the line of their work, during their training sessions, when they get drunk, or when disagreements inevitably break out into fights._"

"And the requirements for joining the shinobi force?"

"_The requirements for entering the shinobi force are fairly straight forward. Each person is tested in four areas; knowledge, ninjutsu, taijutsu, and shurikenjutsu. The knowledge you would be tested on would include geography, the history of the Elemental Nations and Konoha, Konoha's laws, practical math, and common sense. In ninjutsu, they are looking to see if you can perform the three basic jutsu that are taught at the Academy (the Henge, the Kawarimi, and the Bunshin) as well as get an idea of what other ninjutsu you know. Taijutsu is fairly self explanatory; they want to know that you can fight and defend yourself using nothing but your hands and feet._"

"_And lastly, they will test you on your ability to handle the two most common shinobi weapons; the kunai and the shuriken. Not only will you need to demonstrate your ability to properly handle and care for the weapons, you will need to demonstrate an ability to use and throw them with adequate accuracy, speed, and force. On top of your current skills, they will look at your stamina (both your physical stamina and your chakra reserves), speed, force, survival skills, and your ability to think on your feet. They also won't just look at your current abilities and skills; they'll want to know that you have the potential to improve and grow._"

"_There are other skills that could improve your chances of being inducted into the force; genjutsu, kenjutsu, iryojutsu, senjutsu, kinjutsu, and fuuinjutsu. Additionally, possessing a Kekkei Genkai (such as your magic) or a secret technique would be seen as a bonus and make up for mediocre skills or limited potential. Unfortunately, in your case, your age is going to put you at a disadvantage because you have very little room for growth now that you've passed your eighteenth birthday._"

"Actually, magicals don't reach full maturity until age twenty-five due to our extended life spans; otherwise last night's misadventure and my new status would have killed me," Harry corrected offhandedly while he mentally reviewed his options based upon the information that Minato had just given him. "The only true disadvantage I have right now is a distinct lack of teachers and trainers to help me reach an acceptable level within the next two years as well as help me to effectively harness my full potential within the next six years."

"Did you just say that you almost died last night?" Naruto demanded as he jerked away from Harry's side just far enough so that he could stare up at the wizard in horror.

"No, Naruto; I was merely pointing out that what happened to me last night had the potential to kill me. I made a slight miscalculation and the consequences could have killed me if I had been anyone else. In the future, I will take care not to get myself into those kinds of situations; I have no wish to leave you and Teddy without someone to look out for your best interests."

"You better not or I'll bring you back to life just so I can kick your butt; _dattebayo_," Naruto growled fiercely as he scowled up at Harry for several seconds before he curled back into the teen's side.

"Your warning has been duly noted," Harry dryly retorted as he poked the eight year old in the side; soliciting a soft giggle from the kid before earning a return poke from Naruto.

"_Did you have any other questions you wished to ask me?_" Minato inquired after watching the two of them interact for a few minutes.

"Not particularly… though, I was wondering if you might be willing to teach me basic theory until I can find a way to send you on to the afterlife. Practical lessons will most likely be beyond your current capabilities though."

"_I would be more than happy to help the both of you in any way that I can for as long as you need me to. As much as I look forward to the day when I will be reunited with Kushina and my parents, I would not wish to leave the two of you without the knowledge and skills that you will need to survive in the Elemental Nations. I also know the names of several individuals that could potentially help the two of you in specific areas; such as Kushina and Mito-sama being able to help you better understand the potential you have as a host to the Kyuubi._"

"Thank you, Minato; I really do appreciate your willingness to help me."

Their discussion ended just a few minutes later as Kreacher announced that Teddy was awake. Harry left Naruto with his father (so that the two of them could have a moment of privacy to clear the air between them) and so that he could have time to process everything he'd just learned before he needed to speak with Naruto about the Kyuubi. It would also be a chance for him to spend some time bonding with his godson since he'd spent far more time getting to know Naruto over the past few weeks than he had doting on Teddy. It was at that point that Harry realized that there was one thing he hadn't taken into account when he'd been making plans to relocated to Konoha when it was time for Naruto to return to the village; his godson.

Could he knowingly risk Teddy's life by taking him into a potentially hostile situation? Could he potentially deny Teddy part of his heritage by taking him through the portal? Could he take Teddy away from those individuals that were close to him (like Andromeda)? Could he potentially leave Teddy behind knowing that there was a chance that he'd never see his godson again? Who could he trust to watch over his godson if he was left behind? How could he protect him if he took the toddler with them? How could he insure that Teddy got a magical education if they were unable to ever return to England? What would happen to Teddy if he was to die while living in the Elemental Countries?

Harry collected a roll of parchment, a couple of quills, a bottle of ink, and a couple of Teddy's favorite toys before he carried Teddy downstairs to the dining room. He then sat down at the table and settled Teddy on his lap before he opened the bottle of ink and unrolled the parchment so that he could start writing out a list of things that would need to be done and a list of decisions that would have to be made within the next fifteen to eighteen months. By the time that Kreacher popped up to announce that supper was ready, Harry had filled close to five feet of parchment with his cramped chicken scratch and he was no where near finished.

The nineteen year old wizard took a few minutes to clean up his messes and get Teddy situated in his highchair while he sent Kreacher to inform Naruto that it was time for supper. All through the meal, Harry's mind was preoccupied with the decisions he was going to have to make and the many, many things that would have to be done before he could leave with Naruto (there was no way he was going to send his cousin to face his destiny alone in a potentially hostile village). Naruto didn't seem to notice; the eight year old happily chattering away to his father (the kid apparently was no longer inclined to carry a grudge against the man despite his earlier anger).

After the meal, Naruto willingly entertained Teddy once more while Harry returned to his life altering brainstorming session as he added yet another three and a half feet of questions, ideas, requirements, benefits, and disadvantages to his earlier parchment. Another hour was then spent rereading though the eight and a half feet of notes; crossing out those things he knew weren't an option, making comments in the margins for those items that would require research, adding the little odds and ends he'd forgotten the first time, and answering those questions that didn't require input from another party.

He took a break at that point to give Teddy a bath, read him a bedtime story, and tuck him into bed for the night. Harry smiled tenderly as he kissed the sleeping toddler; Naruto had worn the child out so completely that he drifted off to sleep before Harry even reached the second page of the story. He then stood there for several minutes watching his godson sleep while he considered his family's future (which at this point included both Teddy and Naruto as well as his closest friends, and dare he say it, his cousin Dudley too). Harry eventually pulled himself away from Teddy's cot and headed back down to the drawing room where Naruto and Minato were both waiting on him (Minato had been invited to join them for the coming discussion since there wasn't much else for the ghost to do).

Harry tiredly dropped onto the couch, sprawling himself across more than half of the chesterfield as his late night, his transformation into a horcrux for a demon, and the long mentally exhausting day caught up to him once again. Now, if only his body would stop aching and his magical core would stop feeling like an empty hole. If he was lucky, then he'd be feeling good as new after a good night's sleep. If he wasn't lucky, then it would be a full week before he was back to normal. Harry wrinkled his nose in distaste at the thought of being a virtual invalid for seven long days before he let out a soft snort of amusement tinged with annoyance for the direction his thoughts were going in.

Another three minutes passed as he cleared his mind of useless trivialities and focused on the blond bundle of energy that was currently camped down on the floor on his belly building an elaborate fort out of blocks (an obvious attempt to not think about the coming discussion). He then cleared his throat and asked, "Did Minato have a chance to explain to you what it means to have the Kyuubi sealed inside of you, Naruto?"

"_Hai_."

"Um… _hai_ means 'yes', right?" Harry asked as he racked his brain for what little information he'd gathered from the hours he'd spent with the active translation spell the night before.

"Yeah."

"Thank you, confirmation that the translation spell worked as it should have is always helpful. I'm also glad that your father explained things to you since I'm certain I would have stuffed up the explanation simply because there's still so much that I need to learn. And since the Kyuubi is one of the things that you and I need to discuss, it is important that you fully understand what it means to be a host to the nine-tailed fox. So, if you still have any questions about the Kyuubi, don't hesitate to ask me or your father."

"I'm good; _tousan_ answered all of my questions earlier."

Harry nodded in response before he closed his eyes and took a fortifying breath that he let out slowly before he brought up a subject that he would have preferred to never broach with his younger cousin, "When I told you the story of my life yesterday… was it really only yesterday? Feels like it's been ages… anyway, when I told you my story, there were a few things that I left out at the time because the information would be extremely dangerous in the wrong hands and because I felt that there were some things that you were just too young to know right now."

"However, because of what happened last night after you went to bed, I'm going to need to share one of those secrets with you in order for you to understand the consequences of my actions. I am going to go for a brief summary of the bare basics right now because I'm still recovering from last night and won't be able to stay awake for too much longer. I will, of course, give you more details and answer as many of your questions as I can once I've had a chance to rest."

"The secret starts with three powerful wizards who just happened to be brothers and legend states that they used their magic to cheat death and in doing so were granted a boon from the being known as Death. Each brother asked for a powerful object that would allow them to conquer death in some form; the oldest brother asked for an unbeatable weapon, the middle brother asked for a way to bring back the dead, and the youngest brother asked for a way to hide from death."

"The oldest brother was given a powerful wand that amplified his magic, the middle brother was given a stone that would command the souls of the dead, and the youngest brother received an invisibility cloak that would hide him from Death. The three items were the Elder Wand (also called the Deathstick and the Wand of Destiny), the Resurrection Stone, and the Cloak of Invisibility and the three of them together are collectively known as the Deathly Hallows. The stories of the two older brothers are rather tragic and they both died fairly soon after receiving their gifts while the youngest brother lived a long life before he passed the Cloak of Invisibility to one of his children and embraced death."

"Whether or not the three Deathly Hallows were made by Death or if the brothers made them themselves is debatable but there is no question that all three items exist. The Elder Wand is the most well known out of the trio and it has a long and bloody history as it passed from hand to hand through the centuries. The Stone and the Cloak on the other hand fell into near obscurity aside from the myths that rose up around the three brothers and the Deathly Hallows. Since the day the Hallows were first created, there has only ever been one wizard who has reunited all three items; though he was not the first person to have possession of all three items within his lifetime."

"Are you still following along, Naruto?" Harry asked as he paused in his story telling.

"I think so."

"Okay, I just wanted to make certain," Harry stated as he pushed himself up and dug out the Resurrection Stone from his front pocket and withdrew the Elder Wand from his robe pocket. He then held up the pale wand so that Naruto could clearly see it as he explained, "This is the Elder Wand; I won its allegiance two years ago when I defeated Draco Malfoy who had defeated Albus Dumbledore who in turn had taken the Wand of Destiny from Gellert Grindelwald who had stolen it from a wandmaker well over seventy years ago."

"I tried to get rid of the wand but people kept stealing it from Dumbledore's tomb and after the last time I reclaimed it, I decided that it wasn't worth the trouble of having to hunt it down yet again and just kept it when I was unable to destroy it. Most people believe that I destroyed the wand because I created a realistic copy to replace it and promptly snapped the fake in half. I still occasionally have people challenge me to a duel in the hopes that they will take the wand from me but I never take the wand out of the house and most people change their minds the moment they see me using my original holly wand; because why would I use an inferior wand when I have such a powerful wand at my disposal?"

Harry tucked the wand back into his pocket before he held up the Resurrection Stone next as he continued, "This ring holds the Resurrection Stone and it was through the Stone that I called on your father's spirit. I don't expect you to just take my word for it, so I'm going to call on another spirit."

The wizard closed his eyes once more in order to concentrate on the spirit he'd decided to call upon but yet again he made a slight miscalculation, though this time his mistake would actually be a good thing. He'd planned to call on Naruto's mother but because of how many similarities Uzumaki Kushina shared with Lily Potter (both women were redheads, were well known for their temper, were married at a fairly young age, and they both had died protecting their only child), Harry ended up calling upon both women.

"_Kushina!_" Minato breathed the instant the two redheads shimmered into being.

"_Minato!_" Kushina all but yelled as she whipped around to stare at the older blond before she dashed forward to wrap him in her arms.

"Is… is that my mother?" Naruto asked timidly as he hungrily stared at the ghostly woman clinging to his father's ghost.

"Yes, Naruto; why don't you come over here and let me introduce you to my mother while your parents have their reunion (they haven't seen one another in close to nine years, after all)."

"How does that work? Aren't they both dead?"

"I'll explain in a few minutes," Harry countered as Naruto joined him on the couch once more and turned his attention to the second redhead in the room. "Mum, I'd like to introduce you to Naruto; he's related to us through Grandpa Evans. Naruto, this is my mother; Lily Potter. He unfortunately met Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon first and the two of them didn't take the news that we had more family out there well but Dudley stepped in on his behalf before owling me to let me know about him. Life has been anything but dull ever since."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Naruto," Lily murmured as she gave the blond child a warm smile before her expression turned regretful as she continued, "I am sorry for the pain that you suffered during your short stay with my sister. I am partially to blame for the hatred that she developed because I allowed our differences to create a gap in our friendship and disregarded her feelings far too many times. Tuney is not a horrible person but she is full of bitterness and that bitterness distorts her perception and colors her world in anger and spite."

"It's alright, _dattebayo_; Dudley saved me and then he called Harry to come get me."

"_Naruto-kun…? Is that you?_" the redheaded woman still wrapped up in Minato's arms demanded the moment she heard him use that verbal tick. She then turned to Harry and furrowed her brow before asking, "_And who are you?_"

"_Our little boy sure has grown, hasn't he?_" Minato inquired rhetorically as he smiled at Naruto.

"_Kaasan_?"

"_Oh my little baby, you've grown so much since I last saw you and you look so much like your otousan; dattebane._"

"_His temper is all yours, though, dearest,_" Minato bravely pointed out before he ducked the backhand swing that Kushina blindly aimed at his head. "_And the unfamiliar young man beside our son is Kichiro-oji's grandson; Potter Harry. I'm not too certain who your near twin is though, I've not met her before._"

"I'm Lily Potter, Harry's mother," Lily answered in Harry's place since the wizard was a little out of it because he'd used more magic than he'd expected to call upon the two women's spirits (magic that he hadn't really had to spare). "My father was Gregory Evans who is apparently related to Naruto in some way; though I confess that I am more than a little confused as to how that is even possible though. I grew up believing that my father was an only child and I never crossed paths with any spirits beyond those I already knew in the afterlife and my father was always tight-lipped about his childhood – even in death. Am I to assume that the two of you are Naruto's parents?"

"_Yes, I'm Namikaze Minato and this is my wife, Uzumaki Kushina. According to what Harry-kun and Naruto-kun both told me, after Kichiro-oji left our village due to a health problem that would have made him an outcast in the Elemental Countries, he changed his name before making a life for himself on this side of the barrier,_" Minato explained for the benefit of both women. "_Travel between the Elemental Countries and the Outer Countries has always been limited and communications from those who leave the Elemental Countries are pretty much non-existent to prevent word of the existence of the Outer Countries from spreading to the general population for security reasons. Ojisan probably took the secret to his grave in order to protect Konoha from those that would feel threatened by an entire hidden society._"

"Much like the magical society is hidden from the rest of the world," Lily murmured in understanding before she turned back to Harry. "As much as I love having an opportunity to meet long lost family members and to see you again, son; why exactly did you call me here? For that matter, why did you call Naruto's parents here as well?"

"I didn't mean to call you, mum, but apparently you and Kushina have nearly as much in common as Naruto and I do and the Stone called you both when I used it," Harry replied as he shook off his exhaustion as best he could. "I needed to prove to Naruto that the Hallows existed in order to explain a few things and I called on Kushina because I thought he'd like a chance to meet his mother. Minato's situation is far less straight forward… I'd originally called on Minato because Naruto said that he was one of the people that would have the answers that I needed in order to understand what had happened to the Kyuubi. Like when I called Kushina though, someone… or rather some_**thing**_ else tagged along for the ride when I called on Minato last night."

"_What do you mean?_" Kushina asked with apprehension as she glanced between Harry and her husband.

"_The shinigami devoured my soul and half of the Kyuubi the night of the Kyuubi's attack and when Harry called upon me, it was the shinigami that answered the call because I was still trapped inside of the shinigami's stomach,_" Minato answered when Harry couldn't seem to find the words.

"I was horrified when I learned that the shinigami had eaten Minato's soul; my only experience with soul eaters in the past has been with the…"

"Dementors," Lily supplied with grim understanding.

"Exactly and just thinking that some demon had swallowed Minato's soul both angered and disgusted me and I didn't really think things through before I was demanded the shinigami let him go. I should have considered the consequences of demanding things from unnatural immortal beings without asking about the prices involved but I just wanted the shinigami to let Minato go."

"What happened…?" Naruto demanded with concern the moment Harry trailed off.

"There was a rather large complication involved in freeing Minato's soul; his soul was tied to the half of the Kyuubi that had been devoured by the shinigami on the night of the attack. Releasing Minato's soul inevitably also meant releasing the other half of the Kyuubi's soul."

"_You unleashed the Kyuubi on the Outer Countries?_" Kushina demanded in pure shock and no little anger; she'd died to help end the threat the Kyuubi represented, after all.

"No; the shinigami's price for releasing Minato's soul was to turn me into the host for the second half of the Kyuubi. The shinigami also forcefully expanded my chakra coils in order to accommodate the Kyuubi's chakra and gave me an estimated five years to live before the Kyuubi's chakra killed me and unleashed the demon on the Outer Countries. As I understand it, a portion of the Kyuubi's chakra will constantly be transferred into my chakra reserves and the constant growth of my reserves will stress my body if I don't learn to use my chakra in order to keep my coils flexible so they can accommodate the constant influx of foreign chakra. However, so long as I learn how to mold and use my chakra before the five years are up, then I will be fine."

"The only reason I didn't die last night was because the shinigami used my magic during the process to heal the initial damage done to both my body and my chakra network. Well, that and the shinigami said that my soul was hidden from Death and all of the beings associated with Death (bar those souls I call through the stone) due to my connection to the Deathly Hallows. I don't regret helping Minato but I do wish that I'd thought things through a little better before recklessly jumping in headfirst while wearing a blindfold. I'm at least thankful that the shinigami didn't choose to force the burden of holding the other half of the Kyuubi onto Teddy."

"So, you've basically just traded one soul fragment for another?" Lily asked softly as she stared at Harry with grief and regret.

"Yes and no… I was told that the portion of the Kyuubi sealed inside of me was no mere soul fragment because the tailed beasts are not mortal creatures."

"How can you have the Kyuubi sealed in you when I have the Kyuubi sealed inside of me?" Naruto asked as he once more pulled away from Harry and scrunched up in confusion.

"_We only sealed half of the Kyuubi into you on the night you were born,_" Minato answered. "_The Kyuubi was far too powerful to seal his entire being into a newborn; so with Kushina's help and through the power of the shinigami, I ripped the Kyuubi's yin chakra from it and sealed it into myself before the shinigami consumed my soul and the half of the Kyuubi that had been sealed inside of me. At the time, I did not know that stripping half of the Kyuubi's chakra would also take half of its soul._"

"So… that means that me and Harry each have half of the Kyuubi now?"

"Yes," Harry confirmed.

"Is that the reason why you said you'd go with me to Konoha?"

"No. I'm going with you when you return to Konoha because you are family. I would have chosen to go with you even if half of the Kyuubi had not been sealed inside of me; the only thing that has changed is that I have to learn how to use my life force, my chakra, much like I already use my magic."

"I can help you with that, _dattebayo_!"

"I was hoping you'd say that," Harry murmured as he reached out and ruffled Naruto's hair.

* * *

**Translations:** Japanese to English

Okaasan/kaasan – mother  
Otousan/tousan – father

**Techniques/Skills:**

Fuuinjutsu – Sealing techniques  
Genjutsu – Illusion techniques  
Kenjutsu – Sword skills/techniques  
Kinjutsu – Forbidden techniques  
Iryojutsu – Healing techniques  
Ninjutsu – Ninja art techniques  
Senjutsu – Sage techniques (think sage mode)  
Shurikenjutsu – thrown weapon techniques  
Taijutsu – hand to hand techniques/martial arts

* * *

**10-24-15:** _Minor edits made to chapter to fix spelling/grammar mistakes and removed unnecessary author's notes._


	12. Shifting Priorities

**Disclaimer:** _All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies and all Naruto characters are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites._

**Warnings:** _AU for parts of both worlds (i.e. kiss canon goodbye), mild character bashing, mild to moderate violence (there are shinobi involved after all), and a few others that will be announced as they crop up. _

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

**Chapter 12: Shifting Priorities**

_Sunday, August 15, 1999 ~ Friday, December 31, 1999  
No. 12 Grimmauld Place, London, England_

The next two and a half weeks would be an extremely busy period of time for both Harry and Naruto. It started on the fifteenth, after a full night's sleep, when Harry's shinobi education began with a thorough explanation of chakra theory and a long lecture on the importance of proper physical conditioning. Minato provided both lectures supplemented with a handful of the copied scrolls that Naruto had brought with him (which Harry had translated into English with the spell Hermione had looked up for him) while Naruto provided the physical demonstrations.

From that day forward, Harry would join Naruto for two hours of physical training each morning from five to seven. The rest of his mornings during that time were then spent getting the answers he needed in order to make the right decision in regards to Teddy's future. Naruto would split his mornings between playing with Teddy (something Naruto enjoyed far more than most kids his age due to his lonely childhood) and keeping up with his training and studies. After lunch, Harry would take the two boys with him as he ran a veritable flood of errands in order to take care of those things that would need to be done before he left.

Those errands included; withdrawing his application to join the Auror Academy, making numerous trips to Gringotts to set his affairs in order, swinging by Hogwarts a couple of times to secure training aides that would help him with his training and allow him to continue his magical education on his own, visiting a number of people he considered friends and family, and a hundred other little tasks that needed to be done. Harry also made it a point to take the boys sightseeing every couple of days in order to prevent the children from getting too bored.

Supper every other night would be eaten out at various restaurants to allow Naruto to sample a wide variety of different types of food that were not available in the Elemental Countries (such as Italian, French, and Indian cuisine). In return for willingly trying new dishes, Harry would treat Naruto to ramen twice a week (much to the blond's pleasure, though he would have been happier if he could have whipped up some ramen of his own using the recipes he'd gathered). Eating out frequently also had the benefit of giving Kreacher a break without hurting the aging elf's feelings.

After the evening meal, Harry would spend at least two or three hours bonding with the boys; either playing games or reading stories before he gave Teddy a bath and tucked him into bed. The rest of the evening would then be split between more shinobi lessons (on Konoha's history and laws) and learning how to mold his chakra. Once he got the hang of drawing on his chakra, those nightly lessons would morph into chakra control training in preparation for Harry learning how to create Kage Bunshin (an ability that would have a large impact on his education and training; much as it had on Naruto's education and training).

Towards the end of August, Naruto and Harry received a house guest in the form of Sasaki Naoki (who had taken Harry up on his offer to meet in person). Naoki's arrival heralded a rather large change in Harry's plans for the next two years because the man had both the resources and instructors that Harry would need to prepare himself for life in the Elemental Countries. Sure, Minato was a veritable font of useful information but there was only so much the dead man could teach him before his lack of a physical body became a hindrance. Additionally, Naoki could also help Harry fill in the holes in his muggle education and help him learn to speak, read, and write Japanese fluently on top of providing him with instructors to help him with the physical side of his shinobi education.

Unfortunately, that also meant that he would have to pack up and move to the Elemental District in Japan before the end of the year if he hoped to make the most of the time they had left before they had to pass through the portal.

By the time Naoki left seven days after he arrived, Harry had come to a decision; helped in no small part by a series of unkind articles in the Daily Prophet and several other wizarding publications, Minister Shacklebolt's numerous attempts to change his mind about joining the Auror Department, Andromeda's continued decline in health, and an unexpected request from Dudley and his new fiancée (who surprisingly turned out to be one Eloise Midgen; a young muggleborn Hufflepuff from the same year as Harry who Dudley had met during his year in hiding). Most of Harry's friends were supportive when Harry informed them that he was leaving England and the British wizarding community permanently; those that were close to Harry knew how much he disliked his fame and how important family was to him.

During the month of September, Hermione spent her free time helping Harry start the tedious process of sorting through his many possessions. Most of them were things he had inherited from his godfather, his parents, and a few random magicals that had named him their heir because they had no children of their own. Others were confiscated from those dead Death Eaters that had been related to the House of Black – such as Bellatrix Lestrange. Those items he planned on keeping (books and sentimental keepsakes) were packed into a series of trunks that had been modeled after Mad Eye's multi-compartment trunk. Those items that were dangerous were cleansed any dark magic or curses before being packed, auctioned off to the highest bidder, or sent to the appropriate facilities for disposal. And those things he had no use for (outdated clothing, abandoned properties, and miscellaneous artifacts) were auctioned off, given to charities, or trashed.

At the same time, Harry converted one quarter of his sizable fortune into tradable commodities (such as precious and semi-precious metals, cut and uncut gemstones, and blocks and slabs of marble that could be used as building material or sculptures) and muggle currency (in pounds, yen, and ryō since those were the three currencies he could expect to need in the near future). He also began purchasing those items that he would need once they reached the Elemental Countries that did not have a limited shelf life such as ward stones, more books (both magical and non-magical), and a number of tools and basic equipment that would be difficult to obtain on the other side (cauldrons, crystal potion vials, and bolts of treated dragon hide to name a few). The perishable items he intended to take (such as fresh potion ingredients) would be purchased closer to the day they intended to pass through the portal.

It would be near the end of September when Harry finally learned that the reason why Minato's soul could not pass into the afterlife was because his soul was stilled tied to the half of the Kyuubi's soul that was sealed into Harry; meaning that Minato's ghost would inevitably go wherever Harry went until Harry could find a way to sever the connection. Minato didn't seem to mind since it allowed him to watch over his son and because Harry occasionally called upon Kushina (and other spirits from the Elemental Countries) so that the spirit was also able to spend time with his wife and closest friends that were no longer amongst the living.

Minato's close association with Harry and Harry's connection to the Deathly Hallows would eventually allow Minato to develop the ability to hide himself from anyone and everyone bar Harry. That ability would make things easier on Harry when he left the house since Minato's soul was inevitably forced to tag along with the wizard due to how closely he was connected to the Kyuubi. There was no pain involved for either of them if Harry attempted to leave the ghost behind; the spirit of his cousin would just inevitably be pulled directly to Harry's side the moment one of them moved beyond the bond's limit.

October would be spent getting the necessary paperwork and documentation ready for everyone that would be going with Harry; which included Teddy, Naruto, Dudley, and Eloise. Travel arrangements also needed to be made for the five of them since they would use muggle means to get to Japan while magic would be used to transport their things when the time came. He also solicited Kreacher's help in locating fifteen young house elves that would be willing to accept employment (or a bond) with him since Kreacher had requested to be allowed to remain behind to spend the remainder of his life taking care of Grimmauld Place (which Harry planned to give to Ron and Hermione when he left rather than sell the house as he originally intended).

Harry's busy schedule would be disrupted twice during the month of October; once to celebrate Naruto's ninth birthday and again at the end of the month as tragedy once again struck on Halloween night when Andromeda Tonks passed away in her sleep. Harry would spend the first week of November making arrangements for Andromeda's funeral services, scheduling the reading of her will (Teddy had been named as her sole heir), and filing the paperwork to adopt Teddy (a request that Andromeda had made of Harry in her will). Even though her death was not unexpected (her health had been rapidly declining), her loss still hit Harry fairly hard. He'd grown rather fond of the taciturn witch during the last year because he'd kept in touch with her both before and after she handed over guardianship of Teddy to him.

The rest of November and all of December passed quickly as Harry buried himself in his training and preparing for the imminent move to Japan and the eventual move to Konoha in order to escape his grief. Oddly enough, Dudley and his fiancée made themselves indispensable during that time as they helped with both the preparation and with watching over Naruto and Teddy. It was actually rather surreal for Harry to work side by side with his cousin after their less than cordial childhood together; even more so when Dudley exhibited none of his former discomfort around active magic (the slightly older teen willingly visiting Grimmauld Place and being polite to Kreacher).

December thirty-first saw Harry, Teddy, Naruto, Dudley, Eloise, and an invisible Minato bidding their friends and family (bar the elder Dursleys) goodbye before they boarded their flight; all five of the still living members of their group filled with an even mixture of apprehension and anticipation.

* * *

_Saturday, January 1, 2000 ~ Saturday, June 30, 2001  
Elemental District, Asahikawa, Hokkaido, Japan_

Upon arriving at the Haneda Airport in Tokyo, the second leg of their journey saw the small group traveling to the Asahikawa Airport in Hokkaido through magical transportation after Harry had been greeted by a delegation from the Japanese Ministry of Magic that had been sent to welcome him and his companions to Japan. Sasaki Naoki collected them from the airport just a few minutes later to take them to the Elemental District.

The five immigrants would have exactly twenty-four hours to rest and recover from their journey before they were thrown to the wolves; or rather, introduced to the educational system that was used within the Elemental District. Naruto had the easiest time sliding into the system as he merely picked up from where he'd left off when he had headed to England to hunt down his family. Teddy also had a fairly easy time adjusting to his temporary new home as he was enrolled into the daycare facility in the District where he would be taught Japanese and English alongside the basics. The three adults, on the other hand, would have the hardest time adjusting to their new schedules.

All three of them were given a battery of assessment tests that would determine their current level of education. Dudley actually scored higher on those tests because both Harry and Eloise left the muggle education system at the age of eleven and never bothered keeping up with the curriculum while they had been busy with their magical education. When it came to their physical assessments, all three of them were at roughly the same level; Dudley had kept up with his boxing practice even though he was no longer boxing, Harry had always been fairly active and had spent the last couple months working on his physical conditioning, and Eloise had taken up aerobics while she was in hiding during Voldemort's second reign of terror. Once they received their test results, Naoki sat down with each of them to create individual tutoring schedules.

Dudley ended up with the lightest schedule since he'd had a more thorough non-magical education. He would be taking Japanese, geography and history of the Elemental Countries, business management, economics, accounting, boxing, and kickboxing (the latter two both for self defense and sport); his end goal was to enter the restaurant business once they arrived in Konoha. If there was one thing that Dudley knew better than using his fists to fight his battles, it was food. Harry would front him the money he needed to open the restaurant, arrange for the importation of supplies, and supply the chefs (in the form of house elves) while Dudley would manage the restaurant, hire any human employees they needed to help run the restaurant, and handle any public relation issues that arise (such as promoting their restaurant to draw clientele).

Eloise would also be studying Japanese and the geography and history of the Elemental Countries on top of being tutored in the basic subjects (such as math, science, writing composition, and reading comprehension). Once she finished covering the basics, she would take child care classes, basic first aide (including magical healing through the Japanese Ministry of Magic), and estate management. Eloise fully intended to be a stay at home mother; taking care of the house, raising her and Dudley's future children, and managing their family's finances so that Dudley would be free to run the restaurant. The nineteen year old witch also continued to do aerobics on top of learning basic self defense so that she would not be helpless without her wand.

Harry's schedule, by comparison, was the heaviest as he would be taking Japanese lessons, the basic muggle courses with Eloise, studying the history and geography of the Elemental Countries, and continuing to study those subjects that he would be required to know as a shinobi. On top of that, he worked on his physical conditioning, learned the basics of taijutsu, shurikenjutsu, and kenjutsu, worked to improve his chakra control now that he could consistently mold his chakra, took classes on runes and warding through the Japanese Ministry, studied mind magics, and increased his spell repertoire. He would also attend the occasional therapy sessions to deal with the emotional baggage he was carrying around from both his childhood and the war – though there was not much he could speak about due to the secrecy laws.

That was in addition to taking care of Naruto and Teddy when they weren't in classes (or daycare) and his ongoing preparations for their eventual relocation to Konoha; helping Dudley collect recipes for the restaurant, continuing to purchase non-perishable supplies and equipment, working to establish a reliable way of communicating and transporting supplies without the need to travel through the portal, and compiling a detailed list of everything that would need to be purchased at the very last minute. He also had to plan out the route they would take from the portal to Konoha (which included crossing a desert) and figure out how he was going to transport everything they would be taking with them (through muggle means because he and Eloise would have to hide their magic to avoid drawing unwanted attention).

If not for his ability to utilize the Kage Bunshin (which Naruto had taught to Harry the moment Minato determined that it was safe for Harry to learn) in conjunction with his magic and a time turner loaned to him by the Japanese Ministry, there was no way that Harry could have handled his schedule and remained sane. Harry also had the advantage of being able to use close to three times as many clones as Naruto could safely use which tripled his rate of learning.

There were a several reasons for this. One was because as an adult, Harry's brain was far more developed than Naruto's brain. Another was because Harry's chakra reserves were nearly twice the size of Naruto's (again due to his age as well as due to the shinigami's tinkering). And the most significant reason was because Harry's magic acted a buffer to protect Harry from the memory backlash one received from regularly dispelling higher numbers of clones.

Naruto's education was no where near as rushed as any of the adults; this was because there was less he actually had to learn before returning to the Elemental Countries. He did, however, study higher levels of math, science, and English in order to give himself an edge over the other children in his age group. He also spent quite a bit of time practicing his shinobi skills (most especially chakra control and two of the three basic Academy jutsu). The other thing he did was spend hours listening to his father and the other spirits Harry called upon tell stories about their lives. His parents also took the time to teach him the basic theory for fuuinjutsu to build upon what he'd taught himself when he'd learned to create storage seals.

The rest of the time, Naruto spent playing games with the other children, hanging out with Harry and Dudley when his cousins had the time, and spending time with Teddy (who'd become something of a younger brother to Naruto during the passing months).

Over the course of their first twelve months in Japan, not only did all five members of the transplanted family make impressive advancements in their education, they grew closer as a family. Naruto and Teddy in particular thrived during those first twelve months; the two children flourished physically, mentally, and emotionally under Harry's care despite how little time they spent together. Harry and Dudley's relationship would show a marked improvement after the two of them went through some family counseling sessions together to clear the air between them in regards to their shared childhood. And while they would never see one another as siblings, they could at least say they were close friends now.

At the very end of the first year, Naoki insisted that the four native born Englishmen in the small family needed to chose their new names; their birth names were far too foreign sounding and would therefore draw far too much attention to them in the Elemental Countries (something that they didn't want to happen). Picking their new names now would give them several months to get used to using the new names. Their last names were easy to deal with as they were all entitled to use the Namikaze name. First names were a little more difficult to decide on but Harry eventually settled on Takeshi for his new name and Satoshi for Teddy (both suggestions from Minato) while Eloise went with Eri (a suggestion that Dudley had given her) and Dudley decided on Arata.

The final six months of their educational cram sessions saw Harry adding both fuuinjutsu and ninjutsu training to his schedule once he'd finished covering the basic muggle subjects. He tried his hand at genjutsu as well but quickly learned that he didn't have the chakra control necessary to use genjutsu due to his large chakra reserves thanks to the Kyuubi's presence. The only useful thing he got out of the handful of lessons he took on genjutsu was the ability to recognize and dispel most of the lower level genjutsu. On the magic side of his education, Harry concentrated on elemental spells that could be easily mistaken for elemental ninjutsu attacks which would help him play his magic off as chakra.

His chakra control had improved enough that he was now practicing all three of the basic exercises on a regular basis right alongside of Naruto. Using Ha no Noudo, he could now hold multiple leaves or other small objects to various body parts for up to six hours at a time while attending his other lessons, could hold himself upside down on the ceiling for two hours using Kinobori no Waza, and he'd gotten to the point that he could actually walk across a small pond using Suimen Hokou no Waza. Naruto could actually run and spar on top of the water for hours and Harry always got a real kick out of watching the kid's clones skip the real Naruto across the top of the pond when they threw him during their practice spars.

In his kenjutsu training, Harry was learning how to wield a pair of wakizashi blades now that he could safely (and competently) wield both a katana and a tanto. The style he was learning to use with the dual wielding was one that was heavily based upon the Uzumaki Clan's taijutsu style called the Mizuken Ryuu; which Kushina and Mito's spirits had taught to Harry due to his innate flexibility and grace (and because he lacked the build to use the more offensive styles of taijutsu). Naruto was also learning the Mizuken Ryuu despite the younger boy's natural clumsiness being a slight deterrent to properly using that style since the grace would come with age and practice.

At the same time, Harry was also learning to wield a one-handed English broadsword from a pair of animated suits of armor that Professor Flitwick had charmed for him; this included learning how to fight on horseback. The reason for learning multiple sword fighting styles with different types of blades was to give him a wider range of fighting options depending upon the types of situations he ended up in. Each style also utilized slightly different muscle groups as he was required to use different stances; which meant that he worked all of his muscle groups fully. The sword work also helped him to further develop his sense of spatial and situational awareness (which had already been fairly high due to his life being in near constant danger practically from the moment he was old enough to walk).

Shurikenjutsu training was always a blast for Harry as he learned to treat flying weapons like snitches; meaning he could pluck the flying knives, throwing stars, and large needles out of the air with nary a thought. He wasn't nearly as good at throwing the kunai nor did he particularly like playing around with shuriken or senbon even if he could easily catch or block them. He would improve over time with practice though.

Dudley and Eloise were also both doing well with their studies, even if they didn't have the benefit of using shadow clones to speed up the learning process. Dudley had even sat down and created several viable business plans for opening a restaurant (including creating potential menus) depending on the type of restaurant they ended up opening (buffet, café, take away, pub, family restaurant, or a combination of two or more types). Eloise, in the meantime, had added a few remedial potion classes to her class load in order to polish up on her potion brewing (these classes geared towards the uncomplicated healing potions such as the Boil Cure, Burn Paste, a couple different Pain Relieving Potions, Pepper-Up Potion, assorted low level Sleeping Potions, the Calming Draught, and Blood Replenishing Potion to name a few).

Naruto and Teddy's education over those last six months would continue on much as it had during the first year. Teddy's English and Japanese vocabulary had skyrocketed and his grasp of basic concepts (such as counting up to one hundred) was well above his age level; a possible indication that the young metamorphmagus had inherited his father's photographic memory. Naruto was also well above his age level when it came to his mundane education; if only because of the sheer number of hours he amassed through the closely monitored use of Kage Bunshin.

* * *

_Sunday, July 1, 2001 ~ Friday, August 31, 2001  
Elemental District, Asahikawa, Hokkaido, Japan_

Starting on the first of July, Harry pulled himself away from his education in order to start the final preparations for their journey to Konoha (though he did continue to send Kage Bunshin to his classes in his place).

He started by purchasing a trio of fully enclosed horse drawn delivery wagons and a ledge vardo (a type of horse drawn wagon that doubled as living quarters for the nomadic Romani people of the British Isles). The three delivery wagons would be used to haul their things (one for their personal effects, one to carry the restaurant supplies and equipment, and one to haul all of Harry's hoarded magical supplies and equipment) and the vardo would provide living space for them while they traveled. All four of the wagons would be magically enhanced to protect them against the weather, protect them from would-be thieves, hold two to three times the amount of weight, and expanded internally to give them more space.

Next, Harry used his magical connections to purchase and import seven matched teams of Shire draft horses (a total of fourteen horses that were all roughly the same size and weight so that the teams were interchangeable – there were also an even number of each color represented; black, bay, and gray). That would give them one team to draw each of the delivery wagons, two teams to haul the vardo, and two teams to switch out with the others. Four of the teams were made up of mares while the other three teams were made up of geldings. Additionally, Harry had purchased a young stallion so that he could eventually breed the mares if there was enough interest in the heavy horses since Minato had told him that oxen were more common than horses in the Elemental Countries.

All three adults and Naruto would take a crash course in wagon driving after the decision had been made to purchase the wagons so they all would be able to drive the old-fashioned vehicles once they reached the other side.

He then purchased a pair of Andalusian geldings (one gray and one black) that had been trained for both harness work and saddle work (the latter also including jousting and sword fighting training as they had originally been trained as show horses for medieval fairs). He fully intended to use the pair of smaller horses as war horses to give himself a slight advantage when he inevitably left the village (either to explore the Elemental Countries or on missions that involved escorting clients). He also purchased a yearling Andalusian stallion and a trio of unrelated mares (all four of them gray) ranging in age from one to five years so that he could breed the elegant and popular horses for much the same reason he planned to breed the shires.

After that, he made the decision to purchase a number of magical creatures that could easily pass for their non-magical cousins and offer a measure of protection for their future homes. The creatures he chose included two breeding pairs of crups (their tails cropped), several breeding pairs of kneazles, three breeding pairs of postal owls (a pair of eagle owls, a pair of barn owls, and a pair of snowy owls), and a breeding trio of magical boomslang snakes after learning that he still retained the ability to use parseltongue (which would also provide him with hard to get and highly regulated potion ingredients in the form of boomslang eggs, shed skins, fangs, and venom).

Transportation set, Harry pulled Dudley away from his lessons long enough for his cousin to help him purchase kitchen appliances, furniture, decorations, pots, pans, utensils, cutlery, glasses, mugs, and silverware for the restaurant. The appliances that Harry purchased were those with the fewest technological extras (like digital clocks, timers, and cleaning systems) in order to make them easier to use in conjunction with magic. Harry's logic in purchasing everything now instead of waiting to buy everything once they reached Konoha was to avoid any delays that would prevent them from getting the restaurant up and running in the shortest time possible.

Household appliances, furniture, and necessities (those that weren't waiting to be magically transported to them from England) were dealt with next. Eloise was in charge of picking out styles and colors for the couple's household while Harry got Naruto to help him pick out the styles and colors of furniture for the two of them and Teddy. Since their future living arrangements were still uncertain, Harry purchased additional magical storage trunks (each with at least three compartments) to store all of the household purchases so that they would not have to worry about a lack of storage space when they first arrive.

By the time Harry placed his final household order (for a large shipment of high quality oak planks that would be used to build bookshelves for his rather extensive library), the first of Harry's purchases were being delivered. Harry would then spend three weeks casting the necessary spells and carving the warding runes on the four wagons to add the magical improvements and protections on the four vehicles. Once he was finished preparing the wagons, they were secretly moved to a magically secured campsite the base of Mt. Asahi courtesy of the elves that Harry had hired and bonded over the past two years (this was to avoid drawing too much attention from the public when it came time for them to leave).

The horses and other creatures that Harry had purchased were delivered directly to the camp around the same time as they had been transported from their countries of origin through magical means. Harry left the care of the animals to his elves as he began ordering their perishable supplies in bulk (this would include food, treats, medicine, and other supplies for the animals, travel rations for their journey, foodstuffs for the restaurant, potion ingredients, pre-made potions, and an assortment of seeds, saplings, cuttings, sprouts, and bulbs to start a magical greenhouse). He also made arrangements for the stuff that had been left behind in England to be delivered to the camp so that they could be loaded onto the wagons.

Harry took two small breaks from his preparations at the end of July and during the first week of August; the first one was to celebrate his twenty-first birthday and the second one was for Dudley and Eloise's wedding. Harry's gift to the couple was an all expenses paid two week honeymoon to New Zealand. When Dudley complained that Harry was spending far too much money on him and his new wife (the wizard funding the move to Konoha and the restaurant on top of supporting their small family since arriving in Japan, paying for all of the recent purchases, and paying for half of the wedding), Harry countered by stating that he fully expected Dudley pay him back by making their restaurant a success while he ran off and played ninja.

While the newlyweds were off recouping from the intensive year and a half of studying and celebrating their nuptials, Harry organized the incoming deliveries, oversaw the transfer of their belongings and supplies to the base camp, and worked with Naoki to get the last of their paperwork and documentations in order.

This involved drawing up their new identification papers (basing them off of Naruto's originals); including a new set for Naruto with the Namikaze name (in case he decided to use his father's last name instead of his mother's at some point in the future). All of their important documents (birth certificates, marriage certificates, adoption certificate – for Teddy, immunization records, school certificates, etc.) were then replicated, altered to reflect their chosen names, and translated into Japanese.

The last thing that Harry did in preparation for their departure was to finalize the purchase of a permanent residence within the Elemental District that would be taken care of by an additional two elves that Harry hired (in the hopes that he would be able to use the house as a transfer point for supplies and correspondence between the two dimensions). A local bank account was set up to provide funds for the upkeep of the house (and to pay the two elves that were hired to care for the house).

When the last of their many purchases were finally delivered on August twenty-ninth, Harry doubled checked everything to make certain that everything they had purchased had arrived and that he hadn't forgotten to order anything. The group then packed up the last of their scattered belongings, bid their friends and family one last good bye, and made their way to the camp in order to finish packing the wagons. Naoki traveled with the group; the older man going with them to guide them along the safest route to the portal and as an observer as he had personally never witnessed the opening of the portal. Five year old Kenichi (Naoki's son) had tagged along as well; the young boy had grown very fond of both Naruto and Teddy during their time in the Elemental District.

They would reach the summit of Mt. Asahi and the portal into the Elemental Countries on the afternoon of the thirty-first and the group would camp beside the portal for the night so that they could start their journey with the rising sun.

* * *

**Translations:** Japanese to English

Arata – boy's name that means new or fresh  
Eri – girl's name meaning blessed prize  
Hi no Kuni – Fire Country  
Kaze no Kuni – Wind Country  
Satoshi – boy's name meaning wise, fast learner  
Takeshi – boy's name that means fierce warrior  
Tani no Kuni – Valley Country (random country selected as the country in which Amegakure is located)  
Yama no Kuni – Mountain Country

**Techniques/Skills:**

Ha no Noudo – Leaf Concentration  
Kage Bunshin – shadow clone  
Kinobori no Waza – Tree climbing  
Mizuken Ryuu – Water Fist Style (taijutsu style used by Uzumaki Clan) created by author – this style is very fluid, requires a high level of flexibility, and allows the user to avoid getting hit while landing a steady stream of hits as they flow around their adversary (can be classified as a defensive taijutsu form as opposed to offensive like the gentle fist of the Hyuuga Clan since the user can just use this style to dodge all attacks).  
Suimen Hokou no Waza – Water walking

* * *

**10-24-15:** _Minor edits made to chapter to fix spelling/grammar mistakes and removed unnecessary author's notes._


	13. Full Circle

**Disclaimer:** _All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies and all Naruto characters are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites._

**Warnings:** _AU for parts of both worlds (i.e. kiss canon goodbye), mild character bashing, mild to moderate violence (there are shinobi involved after all), and a few others that will be announced as they crop up. _

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

**Chapter 13: Full Circle**

_Saturday, September 01, 2001, Sunrise  
Mt. Asahi, Hokkaido, Japan &amp;  
Yama no Kuni, Elemental Nations_

Harry stood in front of the portal holding the reins of the newly named Felix Felicis (or Felix for short); one of the two Andalusian geldings (the other gelding had been named Fidelis). He wasn't quite sure what he was supposed to feel now that it was time for the five of them (six if he counted Minato's spirit) to leave behind the world he'd grown up in. The one thing he knew for certain was that he felt a whole new level of respect for Naruto and the courage it must have taken for his little cousin to make this journey alone when he was only eight years old.

"What are you waiting for, niisan?" Naruto inquired in Japanese from his perch on the driver's seat of the vardo beside Dudley.

"Courage to face whatever we will find on the other side," Harry replied in kind as he tightened his hold on Felix's reins and hesitantly placed his right hand flat against the hand-shaped indent near the center of the seal that had been carved into the massive stone that held the portal and began channeling his chakra into the seal to activate the array.

Eight pairs of eyes watched the lines of Harry's chakra race through the seals carved into the stone; the hard lines of the seal array glowing blue as he continued to pour chakra into the stone until the entire design was glowing brightly. The moment he dropped his hand, the wall shimmered in the light of the seals for several seconds before the light seemed to melt into the very stone to form a doorway of what looked like water. Locking away his doubts and fears, Harry lifted his chin a notch higher and squared his shoulders before he entered the open portal; Felix dutifully following in his wake when the horse's reins drew taut.

The wizard exited through the other side of the portal mere seconds later to find himself standing on an older mountain range that had been worn smooth by countless centuries of harsh winds. By the time Felix's tail had passed through the portal, Harry had created two dozen Kage Bunshin without breaking his stride and set them to scouting the immediate vicinity. A short search turned up a small scrub brush a dozen meters from the portal door and Harry quickly wrapped Felix's reins around the base of the bush before he used his wand to create a clear path for the wagons as the lead team of Shires pulling the vardo crested the portal.

Once he was certain he had created a large enough area to hold all four wagons and the extra horses, Harry tucked away his wand and climbed up inside of the vardo to inspect their traveling supplies and the enchantments on the wagon (to confirm that both had passed through the portal unharmed and unchanged; a process that was repeated with all three of the remaining wagons and their cargo. His next task was to ask one of his elves to attempt to use magic to transport back to Japan; a feat that was easily accomplished due to the fact that the complex barriers that separated the Elemental Countries from the Outer Countries had no way to block magical travel.

Harry, on the other hand, could not use his magic to travel between the two dimensions due to his chakra network; the elves were creatures of pure magic (much like phoenixes) and therefore did not have chakra networks because magic was their life force. Still, knowing that the elves could freely travel back and forth would make things much easier for the now transplanted family of five (Naruto had come to see the Outer Countries as home since it was out there that he had found his family); they just wouldn't be able to transport any living creatures bar those that were born of pure magic.

The last thing Harry did before he gave the order to move out, was use a series of spells to restore the seal on the portal and ward the portal from both the weather and intentional harm. After that, he placed several proximity wards that would alert him the moment someone approached the portal, when the portal was activated, and in the event that someone attempted to tamper with either the portal or his wards. He then collected Felix's reins, mounted the pale gray gelding (his coat appearing near white), and rode to the front of their small caravan in order to lead the way off of the mountain.

It would take group five days of hard travel to bring the wagons down out of the mountains. It would have taken far longer if Harry had not used his magic to clear the way along with the help of his and Naruto's clones. They were also lucky enough not to run into the bandits that had chased Naruto three years earlier. The group would pass into Kaze no Kuni within twenty minutes of leaving the mountains and Harry halted the caravan the moment the solid ground beneath the horses' hooves turned into sands.

Harry and Dudley would then spend an hour fitting the hooves of the horses with special runic boots that would temporarily transform the sand beneath their feet into a solid (and level) surface in a three foot radius from the point of contact. Harry had created the boots with the help of his Rune Instructor in order to provide the horses with a solid path across the desert to conserve energy, decrease travel time, and reduce the risk of the horses injuring themselves if they were to loose their footing on the shifting sands. Strips of steel lined with the same runes were then applied to all sixteen wheels of the four wagons to prevent them from sinking down into the sand or tipping over.

The boots and wheel covers would also work on snow, slush, mud, and gravel; the only time they wouldn't work on is a body of water that was more than two inches deep because the currents of the water and the surface tension were both always shifting.

Crossing the vast desert would take ten days (five days less than it had taken Naruto alone on foot) even if they could have crossed the desert in six if they'd traveled faster and farther each day. The reason for that was because Harry refused to push the horses in the intense summer heat; in fact, the group actually camped beneath a magical awning in the shade during the hottest hours of the day each day and frequently stopped during their hours of travel in order to offer each of the horses a drink of water to prevent them from becoming dehydrated. They could have traveled during the night (as Naruto had when he first crossed the desert) but that would have been just as dangerous due to the predators that stalked the desert at night and the chance that one of the horses would step in an unseen hole in the dark (the rune boots did not work on empty air for the same reasons they didn't work on deep or moving water).

When they reached the forests of Tani no Kuni, the five of them camped beneath the trees for two nights in order to allow the horses to rest after the grueling journey across the desert. During those two days, Harry used his Firebolt to scout the surrounding area from the sky with Minato's spirit hovering at his side pointing out important landmarks that would help prevent them from getting lost. He was also roped into taking both Naruto and Teddy for a couple of rides the moment they saw him pull out the broom; both boys loved to fly nearly as much as Harry did.

They packed up their temporary camp on the morning of the seventeenth and continued on their way; crossing into Hi no Kuni around mid-morning on the eighteenth. Their journey was quickly drawing to a close as they were now within six days travel of Konoha (so long as they didn't run into any trouble). Under Minato's direction, the small caravan soon turned onto one of three roads that ran between Hi no Kuni and Kaze no Kuni and the road that marked the main trading route between the two great nations.

From the moment they set foot upon the road, Harry felt exposed and vulnerable and the tenseness he radiated was transferred to whichever mount he was riding at the time. A day and a half after the group turned onto the road, the brewing storm that had Harry feeling on edge finally broke (figuratively speaking). At the time, Harry was riding Fidelis (the only black Andalusian); the normally placid gelding mincing his steps and dancing nervously beneath Harry as the pair slipped through the molted shadows that painted the ground through the boughs of the towering trees that loomed over the road.

The only warning Harry had before they were attacked by a group of about twenty-five bandits was a startled grunt from the horse between his legs just seconds before their caravan was swarmed from both sides. Harry experienced a brief flashback to the year he'd spent on the run hunting horcruxes with Ron and Hermione and the final battle before he refocused on his current surroundings and recognized the fact that they were under attack. The knowledge that the bandits were attacking his little cousin and godson snapped something inside of him; shattering the moral compass that had prevented him from taking the lives of Death Eaters during the wizarding war.

Giving voice to a wordless battle cry of fury, Harry spun Fidelis on his heels and charged the bandits as a dozen Kage Bunshin (all twelve unexpectedly mounted on clones of the dark gelding – something that he had actually never done before) sprang into being around him in a cloud of smoke and joined the fray.

"_Naruto, have your clones protect the horses! Arata, keep the wagons moving and get everyone out of here!_" Harry ordered in English (due to his memories of the past being stirred) as he pounded by the pair of frozen blondes perched on the driver's seat of the vardo where Naruto had been chatting away to Dudley just before the attack.

The wizard didn't wait to see if his cousins followed through on the orders; his attention quickly turning to the enemies in front of him as he drew the broadsword that had been sheathed in a saddle mounted scabbard. Leaning low over Fidelis's neck, Harry barged right into a trio of bandits and knocked them off balance; the deadly steel in his right hand snaking out of its own accord to pierce a heart, cut off an arm, and open a gaping wound across a chest. Smoothly sitting up, Harry spun his mount back around to charge after the next group; slashing at their exposed backs as they attempted to chase after the wagons that were rapidly disappearing down the road.

All around him, his clones mimicked him as they cut down their attackers with each swing of their blades; not a single one of them showing any mercy to the bandits. One scruffy bandit managed to catch a glancing blow to Fidelis right flank with his club when Harry spun the gelding around in another tight circle to run down his next target and the gelding bellowed in pain as he reared high and kicked his attacker in the head. Harry barely managed to keep his seat as the horse beneath him rose up vertically and lashed out at the man who'd injured him with his front hooves before he dropped roughly back onto all four feet and he tossed his head as he danced in agitation and pain.

Heart pounding, it took Harry three minutes to regain control of Fidelis before he could rejoin the fight. Another precious minute was then spent analyzing the battlefield before he pointed his horse in the direction that the wagons had been traveling and sent him flying down the road in order to catch up with the others. He would take note of at least six dead or unconscious bandits as he hurried to catch up with the others; evidence that Naruto had broken out of his stupor. Three more bandits would fall to his blade before he caught up to the caravan and the last two bandits still keeping up with the wagons on foot.

Switching his sword for his wand (so as not to accidentally injure one of the horses secured to the back of the end wagon by lead lines), Harry dropped both thugs with well timed stunners as he pulled even with them. Fidelis veered away from the men as they fell and Harry pulled the gelding to a stop as he spun around to study their back trail to make certain none of their attackers had been able to slip away from his clones. Satisfied that the bandits had been dealt with, Harry created another clone and sent it to round up those clones that had survived the battle.

He then dismounted and inspected Fidelis's injured flank (which had thankfully only been bruised according to his diagnostic scan); completely ignoring the two stunned bandits now that they posed no threat to his family. Not wishing to further injure the horse, Harry began leading Fidelis along the road on foot once he'd finished checking the injury.

Half an hour later, the last four of his clones still in existence caught up to him and he sent a pair of them on ahead to check in with the others (to make certain they were alright and let them know he was fine but on foot because Fidelis had been lightly injured). The final two clones were then sent into the woods on either side of the road to search for more potential ambushers in order to avoid being caught off guard a second time. As he walked, the twenty-one year old was still in battle mode with adrenaline pounding through his veins with each beat of his heart but the uneasiness he'd been feeling since stepping onto the road was gone.

Harry wouldn't catch up to the others until well after sunset when he stumbled into camp still leading Fidelis by the reins (one of the clones he'd sent to keep an eye on the others had dispelled the moment camp had been made so as to let him know where to find the others). He'd barely announced his presence when he felt a human bludger with blond hair plow into him as one of his elves tugged the reins free from his hand (the little beings refused to allow any of the humans to care for the horses at the end of each day since there were few other jobs for them to do besides cooking while the group traveled).

"I was so scared that I'd never see you again!"

"I'm a little harder to kill then that, Naruto," Harry gently assured the blond as he ran his fingers through the boy's hair and held him close; both man and teen falling back into Japanese now that the danger was over.

"Were you injured during the fight, Takeshi?" Eloise inquired as she approached the pair holding a squirming Teddy.

"Nothing more than a couple of scraps and bruises," Harry replied as he reached out to collect his godson. "I am tired though; you guys went further than I thought you had at first and I've not walked so far on my own two feet in weeks. I think I'll start walking at least half of the day from here on out just to build up my endurance since I won't always have one of the horses with me when I leave the village."

"And how badly was Fidelis injured? I know your clone said it was just a bruise but…"

"One of the bandits hit him with a glancing blow of his club; it's not too deep of a bruise but it is large enough that I didn't think it a good idea for me to ride him once the fight was over. If the elves haven't done so already, he'll need some of the animal friendly bruise balm applied to his right flank to ease the pain and stop his muscles from knotting up after walking on it for hours."

"I'll make certain he's taken care of while you and the boys go eat; they stubbornly refused to eat until you caught up with us."

"Thanks, Eri," Harry replied as he gave the shorter witch a crooked grin before allowing Naruto to drag him towards the vardo where their supper was waiting for them.

Harry slept like a rock that night, his dreams blessedly blank due to how tired he'd been from the short fight and the long walk afterwards (despite the fact that he'd fully expected to have nightmares because of the bandits that he had not hesitated to kill). He was up early the next morning and spent an hour checking the horses before deciding that it would be best to sit tight for another day in order to give Fidelis's bruised flank more time to heal before they pushed on towards Konoha. The others readily agreed with him as it gave them a chance to rest as well (because traveling for days on end was tiring even if they were practically traveling in luxury).

Naruto challenged Harry to a friendly spar the moment he knew they were not going anywhere for the day and Harry agreed (if only because it had been days since they'd last had a chance to train). Minato's shade played referee for them as they engaged in a taijutsu only spar. The match would last a good hour and ended only when Naruto flopped onto the ground in utter exhaustion; the soon-to-be eleven year old had tired himself out bouncing all over the place in his efforts to land a hit on Harry while Harry used the least amount of movement to dodge or block the younger boy's punches and kicks.

Dudley asked for a spar next so that he too could get in some practice. The two cousins smirked at one another while they waited for Minato to start their match; both twenty-one year olds looking forward to trading blows. During their childhood, Harry would have done anything to avoid getting into a fight with his bigger and heavier cousin while Dudley would have done anything to beat the tar out of his smaller and faster cousin. And while Dudley might have stopped bullying him after the dementor attack around his fifteenth birthday, it wasn't until they'd moved to Japan that they both learned to enjoy pitting their skills against one another to see whose fighting style was superior.

They were actually fairly evenly matched when it came to skill; though Dudley was still stronger with a longer reach and Harry was still faster and far more flexible. Their running tally of wins between the two of them was fairly close as well; Dudley currently leading their friendly competition by three wins. Harry would drop the slightly older man's lead by one at the end of their match because Dudley had also slacked off on his training during the journey; he'd been far too busy driving the vardo (a surprisingly tiring job despite the fact that he sat on the top of a wagon all day long).

After the two matches, Harry would spend the rest of the morning working with Teddy on his lessons (the teacher that ran the daycare had provided Harry with lesson plans and plenty of workbooks so Teddy's education wasn't interrupted – though Eloise usually gave Teddy his lessons while they traveled). At the same time, several of Harry's clones were out scouting the surrounding forest; each clone paired up with one of Naruto's clones as the two of them taught themselves the art of tracking and worked on their stealth. The real Naruto, on the other hand, was diligently working on his chakra control; the kid currently looking like a walking bush beneath the thousands of leaves he'd stuck to his body and clothes by their stems alone as he walked up and down the tallest tree in their camp.

Chakra control exercises were the only real training that both Harry and Naruto never skipped out on no matter what; since missing even one day would affect their control. While they were on the move, that usually involved an advanced form of the leaf concentration exercise; meaning that they made various objects stick to various locations of their bodies for hours at a time. The size, weight, and composition of the object (or objects) that they used in the exercise would have a rather large impact on how easy or how hard it was to maintain the hold on the object.

A lightweight object that was rather fragile (like a leaf) was actually rather difficult to hold in place because using too much chakra would destroy the leaf. At the same time, holding a pebble or a metal disk in place would be far more tiring because they had to use a larger amount of chakra to keep the heavier object from slipping. Trying to hold multiple objects that were made up of different weights and durability was even more of a challenge because it required them to maintain different threads of varying amounts of chakra at the same time.

Harry typically used a specially made set of glass disks (which was a difficult material to use for the exercise because chakra tended to slide off the smooth surface) that he held in place on his chest, back, arms, and legs with chakra. There were a total of twenty disks in the set and each disk was a different size, weight, shape, and surface texture; which meant that each disk required a different amount of chakra to hold it in place. To prevent the disks from getting lost or destroyed, Harry had also carved a series of runes onto the top of each disk; one to prevent them from shattering, one to prevent them from melting, one that would repair any damage (if it was hit during a fight), and one to summon them back to their storage pouch if they fell off.

He had five such sets of disks or a total of one hundred disks (and not a single one had the same size, weight, shape, or texture as another disk). Harry typically switched out which set he used on a daily basis (to avoid falling into a rut by using the same set of twenty all the time) and occasionally worked towards actively carrying multiple sets. He could actually hold all one hundred in place; providing he was sitting perfectly still and had no distractions (otherwise the most he could keep in place was thirty). Naruto occasionally borrowed a set of the disks but the blond actually preferred to use multiple leaves.

After lunch, Harry saddled Felix and scouted their back trail for several miles to make certain that none of the surviving bandits had attempted to chase after them in search of revenge. He then circled wide to search the forest in the event that the bandits were using the trees for cover (like they had for the ambush). Once he was satisfied that they were safe (for the time being at least), Harry returned to the camp and checked in with the others before he scouted their way forward to search for more potential trouble. He only ran into a small handful of fellow travelers; most of them heading towards the capital city of Hi no Kuni for one reason or another.

He returned to the camp in time to join the others for supper and then spent the rest of the evening playing with Teddy before he crawled back into bed. The expected nightmares made an appearance that night but a long conversation with Minato's spirit had put Harry at ease as the man assured the wizard that he'd done nothing wrong; taking an enemy's life was something that the spirit had actually been preparing both Harry and Naruto for from the moment the ghost learned that both cousins intended to become shinobi. The loss of his very rigid moral compass (which had been cracked and battered by the wizarding war) made it easier for Harry to accept the lives he'd taken in defense of his family, though that didn't mean that he'd start killing every opponent he came up against.

Camp was broken with the rising of the sun on the twenty-first after making certain that resuming their journey would not unduly stress Fidelis's bruised flank; it wouldn't thanks to the bruise balm speeding up the healing process (though Harry would not ride the dark gelding again for the duration of their journey). With only one mount available (the older mares he'd purchased trained strictly for harness work and the youngest mare and stallion still too young to ride), Harry would spend half of each day on foot for the rest of their journey (which he'd planned to do anyway). When he wasn't in the saddle, he would walk with Felix's reins in hand so that he could mount the gelding on a moment's notice if the need arose.

Another thing that changed at the same time was that Harry started wearing a number of blades on his person; something he hadn't bothered with because the broadsword had always been close at hand on the saddle scabbard. He wore a pair of wakizashi blades on his back in a cross with one hilt poised over each shoulder for easy access. A katana hung at his left hip from a low slung leather belt and a tanto was secured horizontally at the small of his back with the hilt on the right. A second tanto had also been secured to his saddle just below the broadsword where it could be easily drawn whether he was in the saddle or not.

Additionally, Harry had his holly wand strapped to his right forearm and the Elder Wand strapped to his left (both of them in custom made sheathes that made them look like daggers at a glance; an illusion that was further helped by the runes he carved on the handles of both wands to prevent muggles from seeing his wands for what they were unless they were already aware of Harry's status as a wizard). He also had a number of kunai tucked into his clothes but he'd been wearing those since before they'd stepped through the portal.

Nineteen months ago, Harry would have felt awkward with so much steel secured about his person but eighteen months of hard training had erased any discomfort he would have felt walking around while carrying so many sharp and pointy objects.

The last change in Harry's routine was the addition of twelve clones (all of them once again mounted on a cloned horse) spread out alongside of the small caravan on both sides. Each clone was henged to look like a different person (most of them based upon all seven of the male Weasleys and Harry's other male friends from England) in order to make it look like their group contained far more people than it actually did in an effort to make them less of a potential target for other bandits. Once an hour, the clones would rotate their positions and two of them would disappear into the trees on either side in order to scout for trouble before they fell back into place with the others on the next rotation.

Mid-morning on the twenty-second would see the small family encountering their first shinobi since they passed through the portal. Harry had been riding Felix about thirty feet in front the caravan as usual when four people had unexpectedly dropped down out of the trees to block his path. Felix had been spooked by their appearance practically under his feet and the gelding had reared up onto his hind legs in response. Harry quickly brought the horse back down onto all four feet by turning Felix's head to the left using the reins while his right hand automatically reached for his sword; his eyes firmly locked onto the four men that had appeared from out of nowhere.

"I apologize for startling you, sir," the oldest man in the group declared as he raised both of his hands to show that he was unarmed. "We mean you no harm; we are Konoha shinobi and I was hoping that you would be willing to answer a couple of questions for me."

"Gomen, I should not have overreacted but I'm still a little on edge right now after our caravan was attacked by bandits two days ago and I did not realize that you were shinobi," Harry replied as he quickly resheathed his sword (so as not to appear threatening) and raised his free hand to form a ninety-degree angle with his arm (the universal hand signal used to let others know you were stopping and their agreed upon signal for his cousin to halt the wagons). "What was it that you wished to know, shinobi-san?"

"You've already answered a couple of my questions," the man stated solemnly. "My team has been tasked to round up the bandits that have been plaguing travelers in the area and I had intended to ask whether or not you'd encountered them during your travels. Would you be willing to tell me what happened?"

"Give me a minute to reassure my cousin and I'll be happy to, shinobi-san," Harry answered before he turned Felix around and trotted back to the vardo in order to speak with Dudley. "Everything is fine, Arata; the shinobi are just looking for information on the bandits that ambushed us a couple of days ago."

"That's a relief, Takeshi; for a moment there I thought we were being attacked again. How do you know that they're shinobi though?"

"The one that seems to be in charge told me they were shinobi and that they were from Konoha. I didn't notice it until after he'd said something but all four of them are wearing those protector things with the swirly leaf on them; so they seem to be legitimate shinobi. I don't think they mean us any harm in any case since they could have easily attacked us without warning what with the way they dropped out of the trees without any forewarning; Felix didn't even catch scent of them before they appeared."

"Did you want me to go with you to answer their questions?"

"Nah, I'd prefer that you stayed with the wagons and kept an eye on the boys. It shouldn't take me more than ten or twenty minutes to answer their questions and see if they'd be willing to tell me how many miles it is to Konoha from here."

"Alright, if you change your mind, let me know."

Harry nodded before he wheeled Felix around and headed back towards the four shinobi (three of whom couldn't be more than sixteen or seventeen years old). He pulled the gelding to a stop a good ten feet away from the group and dismounted so that he could approach them on foot.

"Thank you for your patience, shinobi-san," Harry stated once he'd reached the group of Konoha shinobi.

"It was no trouble," the man replied before he turned to address the three teens. "Tanzou, take Minoji and Shibire with you and talk to the rest of the guards and get their versions of the attack." The man then turned back to Harry and instructed, "Why don't you tell me what you remember."

"The bandits ambushed us just after lunch on the twentieth approximately forty miles back. There were roughly twenty-five of them and they attacked us from both sides of the road. I met their charge head on and held them off just long enough for my cousin to get everyone else out of there. I know I killed a number of them and injured several more of them before I sought to catch up with the others to make certain they weren't being chased. We ended up camping off the road for a full day due to my other mount being lightly injured during the fight. I scouted our back trail and the surrounding forest while we waited but I don't know what happened to the surviving bandits after the attack; I found no evidence that they were hunting us down but that hasn't stopped me from worrying."

"You fought off twenty-five bandits all alone?" the shinobi asked skeptically.

"I wasn't exactly alone and I had the height advantage due to being seated on my horse at the time," Harry replied with a self depreciating smile as he gestured in the direction of his henged clones and avoided mentioning his ability to use the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu since it was frowned upon for civilians to use ninjutsu and Harry wasn't a shinobi… yet.

"How many of there are you total and was anyone injured?"

"There are five of us plus a dozen guards and no, no one was hurt aside from one of my horses."

"I see, how certain are you about the distance you've traveled since encountering the bandits?"

"Fairly certain; we've been traveling a solid twenty-five miles per day since reaching the road and we camped a good ten miles away from where we were ambushed. We had a full day of travel yesterday and we've only been on the road a couple of hours today; so if my calculations are off, it isn't by more than a mile or two."

"Might I ask where you are coming from and where you are headed?"

"Our starting point was Yama no Kuni and we're hoping to settle down in Konoha," Harry answered without any hesitation since there was no reason to hide the truth. "Speaking of Konoha; you wouldn't happen to know how far it is from here to the village; would you?"

"It's just over seventy miles to the village from here," the shinobi replied readily enough, though Harry noted that the man had tensed slightly and was now studying Harry with far more interest.

"Arigatou, shinobi-san; it is good to know that the end of our journey is close. I've grown weary of traveling and the children are starting to grow annoyed at being cooped up in the wagons for most of the day."

"You have children with you?" the shinobi asked with some surprise.

"Yes, my son and my younger cousin. Their presence is the reason why I risked my life to chase off the bandits. I know you said that you'd been tasked to deal with the bandits… but can you tell me if I can expect to face trouble in Konoha due to the fact that I killed a number of those men?"

"No, you should be fine; it is not against the law to defend yourself from bandits."

"Arigatou, I had hoped that would be the case but many authorities are less than forgiving to those who kill; regardless of the circumstances."

"I suppose that would be true in most civilian villages but Konoha is a military village and we tend to view things a bit differently than civilians," the shinobi stated as the three younger shinobi rejoined them. "If you'll excuse us now, we've got to be on our way. Your cooperation with our investigation was appreciated and I hope that you and your family will find Konoha to your liking."

Harry bid the shinobi goodbye a heartbeat later before he watched the four of them disappear into the tree tops. Shaking his head over the strangeness of traveling through the trees like Tarzan (only with less vine swinging and more chakra enhanced dashing), Harry remounted Felix and signaled to Dudley to let him know that they were free to continue on their way. Minato and the other shinobi spirits he'd called on had told him that shinobi will often travel through the trees and over the rooftops (something Naruto had confirmed) but he hadn't quite been prepared to see it with his own eyes.

Over the course of the day, Harry briefly caught sight of a number of shinobi moving through the trees now that he knew to look up; though none of them stopped to speak with him. The following day saw a marked increase in the traffic on the road (both civilian and shinobi alike) and cut their daily progress down from twenty-five miles per day to twenty miles a day; though the change of pace thankfully wouldn't cause a huge delay since they were already fairly close to their destination. The increase in traffic at least brought with it a measure of safety as bandits were less likely to attack anyone with so many shinobi passing back and forth along the stretch of road leading right up to the village.

A new kind of tension entered the family of five as they steadily drew nearer to their destination. Naruto feared what would happen to him; he'd run away from the village almost three years earlier and he knew that the Hokage would not be pleased with him because of that. There was also the fact that most of the village had hated him from the day he'd been born (because of the Kyuubi) and he didn't know if he could face their cold, hate filled eyes after experiencing true happiness with his cousins for the past two years.

The three adults in the group not only worried about Naruto (all of them well aware of how the village had treated him), they worried about their own futures. They had basically turned their backs on their former lives in order to start over again in a world that was far different than the one they had left behind. They didn't regret leaving the Outer Countries but that didn't mean they felt entirely comfortable with the world they had found themselves in. There was no turning back though, they'd come too far to turn tail and run home just because they were a little frightened of the unknown.

It was just after lunch on the twenty-fifth of September that the Namikaze caravan reached the main gates of Konoha after watching the towering walls that surrounded the village rise out of the forest over the course of the morning. A steady stream of people poured through the gate in both directions and a glimpse through the open gates revealed a bustling hive of activity (including a number of shinobi dashing across the rooftops).

Dudley pulled the vardo off to one side of the road well back from the open gates (where it was out of the way) and the horses pulling the three wagons followed suit (the horses long used to following the wagon in front of them). Harry made note of their location as he dismounted from Felix and tossed the reins to one of his clones before he joined the short line of people waiting for permission to enter the village (the wizard had been unanimously selected as their family's spokesman despite the fact that Dudley was older). In no time at all, Harry found himself standing in front of a shinobi with messy black hair tied back with a hitai-ate, black eyes, a close cut goatee, and a white bandage bisecting his face over his nose.

"Good afternoon and welcome to Konohagakure no Sato," the shinobi lazily greeted as he barely bothered to glance up at Harry; the slightly older man obviously bored. "Please state your name and business with Konoha."

"My name is Namikaze Takeshi," Harry replied; causing everyone in the immediate area to fall silent and glance sharply in his direction while the other shinobi on guard (this one with his bandana tired over he top of his head so that his dark brown hair hid his right eye and most of his face) jerked his head around so fast he fell out of his chair. "My family and I seek an audience with the Hokage in order to apply for citizenship."

"Namikaze…? Did… did you just say your name was Namikaze?" the shinobi on the ground demanded as he stared up at Harry with wide eyes.

"Hai," Harry answered as he glanced towards the shinobi. The shinobi stared at him in return for a split second longer before he scrambled to his feet and disappeared in a swirl of leaves as he Shunshined away. Harry felt a thread of unease fill him over the man's disappearance but he pushed it down as he turned back to the shinobi that had greeted him and calmly asked, "Was there anything else you needed from me, shinobi-san?"

"Pa…papers…?" the shinobi requested as he held out his hand.

Harry nodded and pulled the envelope holding everyone's identification papers and passed the envelope to the shinobi. The man opened the envelope, pulled the sheaf of papers half out, and barely glanced at the papers inside before he signaled to someone out of Harry's direct line of sight. Two masked figures wearing gray armor dropped down on either side of Harry a heartbeat later and it was all the wizard could do not to automatically attack them as they brought back memories of Death Eaters.

The only reason he wasn't attacking them was because Minato had warned him about the AnBu Guards after Harry had told him about the Death Eaters. It helped that their masks were vibrantly painted animal faces and not white or silver skulls.

"If you will come with us, Namikaze-san; we will escort you to the Hokage now," the shinobi in the dog mask on his right stated as he reached out to take the envelope of documents from the shinobi on guard.

"One moment, AnBu-san; I will need to collect the rest of my family."

* * *

**Translations:** Japanese to English

Hi no Kuni – Fire Country  
Kaze no Kuni – Wind Country  
Tani no Kuni – Valley Country (random country selected as the country in which Amegakure is located).  
Yama no Kuni – Mountain Country

**Translations:** Latin to English

Felix Felicis – lucky, fortunate, happy  
Fidelis – faithful, loyal, true.

**Techniques/Skills:**

Kage Bunshin – shadow clones

**Notes:**

Travel speeds and distances:

Civilians on foot will travel between 10 &amp; 15 miles per day (depending on their age and health).

Shinobi will travel between 50 &amp; 75 miles per day (depending on age, skill, and health – which is five times the distance that a civilian will travel).

Civilians on horseback will travel between 20 &amp; 30 miles per day (depending on the horse's gate and the terrain).

Civilians/merchants with wagons will travel between 15 &amp; 20 miles per day (depending on whether they are using oxen or horses, how many animals are hitched to each wagon, and on how much weight they are hauling).

Harry's group will travel 25 miles per day because the wagons have been magically lightened to reduce the strain on the horses. When crossing the desert, they only traveled about 15 miles per day due to the heat.

Based upon those numbers, here is a list of estimated distances between:

Konoha and Suna – 195 miles (3 day journey for shinobi at 65 miles per day)  
Konoha and Ame – 130 miles (2 day journey for shinobi at 65 miles per day)  
Konoha and the portal in Yama – 325 miles (5 day journey for shinobi at 65 miles per day)  
Suna and Ame – 130 miles (2 day journey for shinobi at 65 miles per day)  
Suna and the portal in Yama – 195 miles (3 day journey for shinobi at 65 miles per day)

Naruto's travel time on his way out of the Elemental Nations was obviously slower due to his age at the time.

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**10-24-15:** _Minor edits made to chapter to fix spelling/grammar mistakes and removed unnecessary author's notes._


	14. A Namikaze Homecoming

**Disclaimer:** _All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies and all Naruto characters are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites._

**Warnings:** _AU for parts of both worlds (i.e. kiss canon goodbye), mild character bashing, mild to moderate violence (there are shinobi involved after all), and a few others that will be announced as they crop up. _

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

**Chapter 14: A Namikaze Homecoming**

_Tuesday, September 25, 2001, Afternoon  
Konohagakure no Sato, Hi no Kuni_

Sarutobi Hiruzen skimmed through yet another mission report (this one detailing the routing of a band of bandits from the Western Road) before he initialed the report and set it on the stack of completed paperwork ready to be filed with a soft sigh of boredom. Instead of immediately reaching for the next report, he climbed to his feet and made his way over to the window to stare out over Konoha as he let his mind wander. It had been almost three years since the disappearance of Uzumaki Naruto and Hiruzen still often wondered and worried about what had happened to the hyperactive child.

During that time, the Sandaime Hokage had all but torn the village apart from the inside out in his efforts to find the eight year old. He'd unearthed a disturbing number of spies from all over the world and shut Danzou's Root program down hard but he'd not found even the smallest clue as to Naruto's whereabouts. Hiruzen had then rebuilt the village from the ground up (figuratively speaking since most of the village had still been standing) before he carefully began to systematically search for the Kyuubi's young host outside of Konoha's walls. The results had been less than satisfactory as they had not even found the ghost of a whispered rumor as to what might have happened to the child.

Hiruzen had gone so far as to recall both Jiraiya and Tsunade to the village (despite their protests). He had sent Jiraiya back out to continue the search for the missing Uzumaki (after he'd had his former student upgrade the various barrier seals on the Hokage's office and in key locations around the village). Tsunade had been given a choice between taking over as the director of Konoha's Hospital or starting a medical Academy that would train future medics the moment an Academy student or young Genin showed an interest in the healing arts or demonstrated high potential (such as those with instinctive chakra control).

After throwing a week long tantrum over the ultimatum, Tsunade had opted to open Konoha's first medical school with the help of her apprentice, Shizune.

That had been a year and a half ago and the school appeared to be a rousing success. Those Academy students that didn't have what it took to become Genin but were still skilled enough to become medics were no longer lost to the system when they failed to pass the Academy Exam or the Genin Exam. Instead those children were enrolled in the Medical Academy where their abilities were honed so that they could one day take their place as a full time medic at Konoha's Hospital. Those Genin that passed through the Medical Academy, on the other hand, would become future field medics where their skills would help save lives outside of the village.

The Hokage's thoughts next turned to the clans…

The Uchiha Clan had not reacted well to Hiruzen's house cleaning and their attempted coup was crushed in less than an hour when Hiruzen and his most loyal shinobi took them down hard on the heels of Danzou's removal. Two-thirds of the Uchiha Clan had died during the brief fight and the only survivors were the children under the age of ten (at the time), the civilians that had never developed the Sharingan, and a very small handful of loyal Uchiha that had helped crush the rebellion. The most notable of the surviving clan members were Uchiha Itachi (the clan's beloved prodigy and the eldest son of the former clan head and former chief of Konoha's military police force) and Uchiha Shisui (Itachi's cousin).

The situation with the Uchiha had made the other clans wary but with the lesson of what happened to the Uchiha at the forefront of their minds, there wasn't any chance that they would attempt a rebellion of their own. That didn't stop the clans from eyeing each other with suspicion from time to time; especially those that had a history of contention between them. The tension between the clans and the civilians was even higher as the clans blamed the civilians for the current problems while the civilians blamed all of the shinobi. Even after nearly three years, the friction between the shinobi and the civilians was both obvious and high.

In fact, Konoha had lost close to a fifth of its civilian population when the people had left the city in droves in response to the slue of interrogations that everyone aged fourteen or older (regardless of background or status) had been subjected to in the wake of Naruto's disappearance. On top of that, the number of civilians that had been looking to immigrate to Konoha had been drastically reduced once word began to spread about the housecleaning the village was undergoing. The fact that all potential immigrants were now required to subject themselves to intensive and intrusive interrogations before their applications would be accepted didn't really help.

Hiruzen attention was abruptly returned to the present at that moment as Kamizuki Izumo burst into the room quite unexpectedly and blurted out, "There's a man claiming to be a Namikaze at the gate…"

"Nani…?" Hiruzen exclaimed as he jerked around to stare at the Chuunin.

"The man arrived at the gates a few minutes ago and stated that he and his family were seeking an audience with you as they wished to move to Konoha. He introduced himself as Namikaze Takeshi."

"Describe them to me," Hiruzen ordered as he returned to his desk.

"The man is in his early twenties and stands about five foot six with a slender build. He has messy black hair that sticks up all over the place, a faded lightning bolt scar on his forehead, and piercing leaf green eyes. He wore at least three swords on his person, carried himself like a shinobi, and his chakra levels are at least equivalent to a high Jounin though I'd put them closer to Kage level based upon how potent he felt from a distance of five feet. I did not see the rest of his family nor was any mention made of how many of them there were in total before I left my post to report to you."

"The man's description sounds familiar…" Hiruzen mused with a slight frown as he reached for the most recent mission report he'd reviewed less than a half an hour earlier. He skimmed through the report until he reached the part where the Jounin described the leader of a small caravan that he'd spoken to in regards to the bandits. Sure enough, the description of the man in the report matched the description of the man Izumo had given him. "The man should have arrived with a small caravan of four horse drawn wagons with a mounted guard of twelve."

"A caravan of that description was sitting a ways back from the gates just off the road."

A masked AnBu guard appeared in the room in a curl of smoke at that point and passed an envelope to the Hokage as he reported, "Tori and I just escorted a small family of five individuals (three adults and two children) to the tower. Tori is currently keeping an eye on them in the lobby as we speak."

"Thank you, Inu; send them in," Hiruzen instructed as he set the envelope on the desk without opening it and reached for the red and white Hokage's hat with the kanji for fire on it so that he could place it on his head.

"Hokage-sama, with all due respect, I suggest you take a look at all of the identification papers in the envelope before you meet with the family," Inu stated as he made no move to obey the Hokage's orders.

Hiruzen frowned at the silver-haired AnBu Guard before he did as suggested and opened the envelope that the man had handed him. The topmost packet was the identification papers for one Namikaze Takeshi but Hiruzen barely glanced at the photo of the greened eyed man as he was distracted by the fact that the format of the form was identical to the forms that Konoha had used for all native born citizens up until three years earlier. His frown deepened because he knew that there had been no Namikazes born in the village since Naruto's birth (and his father's birth before him) and the only way someone born outside the village could have known to use the older format was if the documents were a forgery (one of the reasons that the forms had been altered after Naruto disappeared).

The Sandaime was certain that there was no way the black haired man could be a Namikaze; if only because the man looked nothing like Minato (bar the fact that his hair was a veritable bird's nest). Flipping to the next packet, Hiruzen found himself face to face with a green eyed child with sunshine yellow hair that bore a startling resemblance to the missing Uzumaki Naruto (minus the whisker marks). The boy's name was Namikaze Satoshi and he was Takeshi's son according to the information on the top page of the packet. Hiruzen's certainty that the first man was a fraud slipped as he stared at the child.

When he flipped to the third packet, the Sandaime Hokage felt like he'd just been sucker punched in the gut as an oh-so familiar face stared up at him. The boy in the picture was older than he remembered but there was no mistaking those sapphire blue eyes, that sunshine yellow hair, or those whisker marks. Hiruzen immediately knew that this was what Inu had wanted him to see and he was torn between sharp relief and white hot rage as it dawned on him that Naruto had finally been found.

It was at that point that the Sandaime finally noticed that the last name on Naruto's paperwork was listed as _Namikaze_ and not Uzumaki and his blood ran cold. There was a reason why Naruto's parentage had been considered a state secret and it had nothing to do with his status as the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi and everything to do with the number of enemies that his father had made during his lifetime.

Needing time to think, Hiruzen flipped to the final two packets to find a blond hair, blued eyed man that bore only a passing resemblance to Minato and a passably pretty young woman with long curly black hair and brown eyes; Namikaze Arata and his wife of almost two months weeks, Eri. Slightly confused as to how a quartet of unknown Namikaze's could pop up from out of nowhere, Hiruzen flipped back to Takeshi's identification packet and skimmed through the man's background information and his eyebrows nearly climbed off of his face when he learned that the man's grandfather was Namikaze Kichiro.

Hiruzen knew exactly what had happened to Kichiro; he'd been the one to authorize the man's expedition to the Outer Countries fifty years earlier; just one year after being named as the Sandaime Hokage. Hiruzen had all but forgotten about the broken fourteen year old that he'd pretty much sent out into the world to die all those years ago. When they hadn't seen or heard from the teen after five years, Hiruzen had assumed that the teen had died after passing through the portal. He never once considered the possibility that the man might have survived let alone produced a family.

How Kichiro's grandsons managed to find Naruto was even more of a mystery; since the only way the Namikaze family would have escaped notice all of these years was if they'd remained in the Outer Countries. Hiruzen was confident that there was no way that Naruto could have known about Kichiro or Kichiro's family since the kid had never been told who his parents were. He was also worried about what it meant that Kichiro's grandsons had chosen to return to the village now, after all of this time.

"Izumo, return to your post," Hiruzen ordered once he'd collected himself. "Inu, fetch our guests and tell Tori to guard the door to insure that we are not interrupted." The aged Kage then addressed the room at large. "The rest of you need to vacate my office for the duration of my meeting."

"Hai, Hokage-sama," six voices intoned in sync before four puffs of smoke and a swirl of leaves filled the office while Inu opened the door to collect the small family waiting on the other side.

The young newlyweds entered the room first and Hiruzen took a moment to study the confident young man that looked like a pale copy of Minato. He was tall, just an inch or two shy of six feet, and stocky with the hint of a beer belly. He walked with a slight swagger that was tempered by the pleasant (if small) smile he wore on his face. The man wore a sun bleached pair of blue jeans and a gray t-shirt that were both lightly coated with dust and dried sweat stains (a clear indication that he'd spent at least part of the day on the road).

The woman beside him looked positively dainty in comparison. Namikaze Eri stood a whopping five foot four inches with a moderately plump frame that spoke of a rather easy civilian lifestyle. She wore a loose, sleeveless yellow summer dress with a black and yellow striped shawl draped loosely around her shoulders. And while her clothes were obviously travel worn, they were no where near as dirty as her husband's (an indication that she'd stayed inside of the wagons for long periods of time). Propped on the woman's hip was the three year old Namikaze Satoshi; the young child attempting to take in everything with his wide green eyes.

Hiruzen's eyes were then drawn to the other child in the group as Uzumaki Naruto walked through the door next. Naruto had shot up like a weed since the last time he'd seen the boy and there was not a single trace of baby fat to be found on his lean frame. He also carried himself with far less brashness and more confidence (even if it was obvious that the boy was tense and nervous). Dressed in dark blue jeans and a burnt orange t-shirt, the kid was a sight for sore eyes and the old man's heart soared to see his surrogate grandson safe and sound at last even as his heart ached when he noted the angry scowl the bewhiskered boy sent at him.

Before the Sandaime could think of a reason why Naruto would be angry with him, his eyes were immediately drawn to the last member of the small family (almost against his will) as the man strode into the office on Naruto's heels. The man exuded a presence that demanded attention as he moved with a natural grace equal to that of a stalking tiger. Any shinobi worth their salt would recognize the warrior in the young man in a single glance and those that missed the visual signs of the man's occupation would sense it in the tightly leashed power that clung to the man. Those who were stupid enough to ignore those signs would likely end up dead the moment they irritated the man.

The dark haired man was dressed in loose black pants, a dark red long sleeved shirt, and a heavy black trench coat. He had three swords strapped to his back, a fourth to his left hip, and a dagger strapped to each arm (the hilts peeking out from the end of his coat sleeves). On his feet he wore bulky knee high boots that completely enclosed his feet. Dust clung thickly to the man's clothes along with hundreds of short white hairs that Hiruzen assumed to be from the horse the man was reported to ride. Inspection complete, the Sandaime lifted his eyes to the man's face.

The moment Hiruzen met Namikaze Takeshi's gaze, he had to fight the urge to rear back and apologize to the man. It had been over eleven years since the last time he'd been on the receiving end of what he'd secretly termed the Namikaze Death Glare. It was a look that Minato had only ever used when he was pissed beyond words and even Orochimaru had squirmed like a new made Genin beneath that particular glare. Any doubts that the green eyed man was not who he claimed to be fled in that instant (_that_ particular look could never be reproduced by _any_one other than a Namikaze) and Hiruzen wondered what the hell he'd done to piss off a man he'd never even met.

"Good afternoon lady and gentlemen, I am Sarutobi Hiruzen; Sandaime Hokage of Konohagakure. Please allow me to welcome you to Konoha. Inu, please take the children…"

"Touch my son and I will break your fingers. Touch my itoko and I will cut off your fingers. Attempt to remove either child from my sight and I will skin you alive, salt the resulting wounds, slow roast you over an open fire, and feed you to my dogs inch by inch starting from your feet all the while making certain you live through the entire process," Takeshi interrupted in a deadly soft voice filled with icy rage as his eyes turned even colder and Hiruzen wondered if the glare he now saw was the last thing that Minato's enemies had seen just before they died at the hands of Konoha no Kiiroi Senko.

"Excuse me?" Hiruzen barked in shock as Inu palmed the hilt of his sword in response to the threat.

"Takeshi-nii isn't very happy with you right now, Hokage-sama," Naruto explained with an aggrieved sigh and the Sandaime flinched imperceptively at being addressed so formally by the blond. "Not that I'm all that happy to see you either. Takeshi-nii also doesn't trust you and that means he's not going to let me or my otouto out of his sight because he's rather protective of us."

"And what exactly is it that I have done to anger a man that I've never set eyes on until now?"

"Where would you like me to start?" Takeshi retorted as he dropped his hand on Naruto's head to silence him. "With the decision you made to allow an entire village to heap verbal abuse on a helpless child? With your decision to allow this village's civilians to form lynching mobs that would chase a helpless child through the streets? Or maybe it was the decision you made to lie and withhold information from said child and let him think that his parents hated him just as much as the rest of the village? Or how about the fact that you left a **child** to fend for himself in a hostile environment where your entire village not only shunned him, belittled him, and threatened him but also took pains to steal and destroy his worldly possessions and overcharge him for the basic necessities he needed to survive?"

Hiruzen opened his mouth to make a retort but the younger man didn't given him a chance to get a word in edgewise as he raised his voice slightly and continued his angry rant.

"I despise men like you with a passion. I knew a man that was like you once, I saw him as the grandfather I never had and thought that he could do no wrong. He too was the vaunted leader of an entire society (despite the fact that he was not the figurehead of the government); a powerful icon and a war hero that was respected all over the world. He was a smart and talented man as well and over time he began to believe that he was the only one with the knowledge and power to guide his society down the right path. His shortsightedness and his absolute belief in his own hubris that he termed the Greater Good nearly destroyed our entire society."

"He forged a child weapon once too. Only he didn't want a powerful weapon that could turn against him, so he made a broken weapon that was loyal to a fault and eager to please but lacked the skills and knowledge he needed to fight the battles he would face. A weapon that cared nothing for his own life because he had no sense of self-worth, a weapon that was revered and reviled at the drop of a hat by an entire society, and a weapon that was meant to sacrifice himself for the Greater Good. That man died over five years ago and I still haven't forgiven him for manipulating me all of my life just to set me up as a sacrificial lamb for a society that blamed me for all of their problems while they simultaneously demanded that I save them. It infuriates me to know that another, that you, attempted to do the same thing to my itoko."

"Don't hold back now, Takeshi; tell the man how you really feel," Arata interjected in a dry tone.

"Urusai, Arata," Takeshi muttered as he immediately deflated in response to the other man's words; his anger vanishing in the blink of an eye. The dark haired Namikaze then bowed low and contritely stated, "Moushiwake arimasen deshita, Hokage-sama. I should not have spoken to you that way. We have been traveling for weeks and the moment we arrived at the gates of your village, we were dragged before you without even a chance for us to rest; let alone wash the dirt from our faces."

"I suppose it did not help that I have been nursing my anger for nearly two years and would have preferred to have kept my itoko as far from this village as humanly possible. And your attempt to shuffle the kids off to some place else was just the last straw. I am also aware that it is not entirely your fault that Naruto-kun was treated so poorly while he lived in your village; you are, after all, only one man. It is just hard to not hold you responsible for everything now that I am standing in front you."

"Apology accepted, young man," Hiruzen replied after studying the man for several seconds. "Why don't we start over; you can begin introductions."

"Arigatou, Hokage-sama," Takeshi murmured in relief as he bowed a second time. "My name is Namikaze Takeshi. Behind me are my cousin Namikaze Arata, his lovely wife Namikaze Eri, my son Namikaze Satoshi, and I believe that you are familiar with my youngest cousin, Uzumaki Naruto."

"Uzumaki…? Not Namikaze…? How is it that Naruto-kun's identification papers declare him to be a Namikaze if he is still referring to himself as Uzumaki?" Hiruzen inquired with some surprise.

"Naruto…? When did you find the time to switch the packets?" Takeshi declared as he turned to the now sheepish blond. "For that matter, why did you switch them? I thought we agreed not to reveal your relationship to Minato until you were at least fifteen or a Chuunin?"

"I didn't like being the odd one out," Naruto confessed with a shrug of his shoulders.

"I suppose I should have expected that and you should have said something sooner. No point is squabbling about the matter now though because what is done is done and you have every right to use your father's name. Just don't go flaunting your surname about when you eventually step out of the villager."

"Wakatta, Keshi-nii."

"Namikaze-san, would you be opposed to allowing Inu to take the children to get a treat while the rest of us have a short discussion? You have my word that no one will harm either child while they are in Inu's care and that they will be returned to you as soon as we are finished."

Hiruzen watched the man tense once more as his gaze cut down and to the side towards Naruto before flicking to the young child in the woman's arms. The young man then turned to study the masked Inu for a full minute before he dropped his gaze to the floor and canted his head to one side (as if he was listening to something only he could hear).

A few seconds later, the man nodded his head, lifted his eyes to meet Hiruzen's gaze, and replied, "I will allow it." He then turned to the young woman and held out his hand. Eri quickly set the child in her arms down on his feet and the boy rushed into his father's arms as the man crouched down. "Toshi-kun, the gentleman in the red and white doggy mask is going to take you and Naruto-kun to get a small snack and I need for you to be on your best behavior while you are out. Can you do that for me?"

"Hai, papa," Satoshi replied with an enthusiastic nod.

"Remember; no changing no matter how cool you think someone looks."

"Hai, papa," Satoshi murmured with a slight pout.

"Naruto, I expect you to keep an eye on Satoshi for me and make certain he doesn't get into any trouble."

"Hai, niisan," Naruto immediately agreed as he scooped up the younger boy and settled him on his shoulders. "Where are we going, Inu-san?"

"How does ramen sound?" Inu inquired with an undertone of amusement.

Hiruzen held back the grin that threatened to break out as Naruto's entire demeanor changed the moment the word ramen passed through Inu's lips. It did his old heart a world of good to know that the child he'd been so fond of was still there inside of the not-quite eleven year old beneath the serious (and angry) child that had entered his office.

"Mendoukusei. Here, Naruto, you'd better take this; I know how you are when it comes to ramen," Takeshi sighed as he fished a bulging money pouch out of his left coat pocket and tossed it to the blond. "Try not to eat yourself sick."

"Thanks, Keshi-nii!"

"You're welcome, squirt," Takeshi replied with a fond smile that slipped from his face when he turned his gaze back to the masked Inu and delivered a warning. "If any harm comes to either child while they are in your care, I will hunt you down and hurt you in ways you couldn't possibly imagine and no one will ever find your body by the time that I am finished with you."

"Understood, Namikaze-san."

The two children and Inu were gone two minutes later and Hiruzen activated the privacy barrier and one of three alert beacons that surrounded his office with a pulse of chakra knowing that activating the beacon would also let Ibiki and Inoichi know that their presence would be needed. The aged shinobi then leaned back in his chair and studied the three young adults in his office as he allowed the displeasure he'd been hiding to show.

"Now, why don't we get down to business?" Hiruzen stated in a stern tone. "You can start by giving me one good reason why I shouldn't have all three of you arrested on charges of kidnapping."

"You mean aside from the fact that we are not guilty of kidnapping anyone?" Takeshi countered as he crossed his arms over his chest and arched an eyebrow as he calmly looked Hiruzen in the eye.

"Just under three years ago, Uzumaki Naruto vanished from his apartment and the village without a trace… Are you implying that you had nothing to do with his disappearance?"

"Until two years ago, we didn't even know that the Elemental Countries existed," Arata stated as he shoved his hands in his pockets to hide his clenched fists. "Until Naruto turned up on my parent's doorsteps out of the blue two years ago we never knew that we had family living on this side of the portal."

"In other words, Hokage-sama; we didn't kidnap Naruto," Takeshi added once Arata had finished speaking.

"And you expect me to believe that Naruto-kun miraculously transported himself across the barrier that separates our world from the Outer Countries and lost a full year of time in the process?"

"No," Takeshi snorted as he fished out a thick document sized envelop from the inside of his trench coat, broke the seal with a thread of chakra, and tossed it on the desk. "It's more like Naruto discovered the fact that you'd been lying to him his entire life and he ran away from the village in order to search for the only possible family he had and found us a year later."

Hiruzen frowned even as he reached for the envelope. He quickly opened the envelope and withdrew the thick sheaf of very familiar documents that were inside. Five minutes later, Hiruzen was feeling his age weighing down on him once more after he'd confirmed that the documents in the folder were the unaltered originals that were supposed to be safely stored in the archive with the rest of the village's important outdated documents. Originals that he had not even known were missing as he'd never once thought to have someone check the archives for thefts because the barriers around the building had been undisturbed (something he _should_ have checked on anyway).

"I still find it hard to believe that an eight year old child could have slipped out of the village without alerting one of the AnBu Guards that I had assigned to watch him."

"Naruto is a very enterprising you man and when he is properly motivated, he can pull off some pretty amazing pranks and schemes," Eri shyly pointed out as she spoke up for the first time since entering the office.

"An alert would have been sent the moment he crossed the defensive barrier that protects the village and an AnBu team dispatched to retrieve him even if he did manage to evade the guards assigned to him," Hiruzen insisted.

Takeshi snorted as he lifted his right hand just enough to raise two fingers as he drawled, "The answer you are looking for is comprised of two words, Hokage-sama; Kage Bunshin. Naruto knew that the AnBu were dispatched each time he was chased out of the village by angry mobs and he took advantage of that and the rampant misconception that he was incapable of performing ninjutsu because of poor chakra control. Poor chakra control, I might add, that was strictly due to the enormous size of his reserves thanks to the furball hitching a ride inside of him and the piss-poor teachers that were sabotaging his education."

"Speaking of the Kyuubi and the fact that Naruto is the fox's host is a crime punishable by death…"

"How does that apply to me…?" Takeshi countered with a scowl. "I was not born in this village and therefore am not aware of any laws that were created after Minato's death. And it's not like I spoke of the Kyuubi out in the middle of the village where anyone could overhear me. On top of that, how often have you even bothered to enforce that law…? After all, a large percentage of the adults in this village went around breaking that stupid law each time they called Naruto a demon within his hearing."

"The law was my attempt to prevent the adults from spreading their hate to their children but looking back now, I can see that it failed to provide Naruto with a measure of protection as I had hoped it would," Hiruzen admitted wearily as he pulled off his hat and returned it to the bottom drawer of his desk before he pulled out his pipe, stuffed it full of tobacco leaves, and tamped the leaves down before he lit the pipe. He drew deeply on the pipe, held his breath for a moment, and then released the smoke in a series of smoke rings before he asked, "What exactly is it that you want from me? Why are you here in Konoha? Why bring Naruto back to Konoha at all if you didn't want to be here?"

"Minato told me that I had to have Naruto back in Konoha by his twelfth birthday."

"Minato is dead," Hiruzen deadpanned as he tried not to gape at the green-eyed man.

"Oh there has never been any doubt that my cousin was well and truly dead when I first met him," Takeshi quipped with a grim smile. "His spirit has been a veritable font of information and anecdotes about life in the Elemental Nations over the past two years; specifically within Konoha."

"How is that even possible?"

"One aspect of my Kekkei Genkai is an ability that allows me to communicate with the dead."

"Prove it," Hiruzen ordered impulsively.

Takeshi arched his eyebrow again before he glanced to the empty air beside him and nodded his head to the side once in question. Hiruzen thought the young man might be touched in the head only to nearly swallow his pipe when Minato's shade shimmered into existence in the exact place that the other man had been staring. He attempted to dispel a genjutsu several times before he scrutinized his pipe as he wondered if someone had slipped a hallucinogenic into his tobacco when he wasn't looking.

"_You're not imagining things, Sarutobi, and you are not in a genjutsu,_" Minato's shade pointed out with a laugh.

"You can't be here… you're dead; I saw you die."

"_And I am still dead._"

"How do I know that you are the real Minato and not just an illusion?"

"_Would you believe that I am me if I was to remind you about the day Kushina and I caught you peeping on the women bathing in the hot spring using your nifty little crystal ball when you were supposed to be going through your paperwork?_"

"Damn it, did you have to bring that up now? I still have nightmares about that day! You could have picked a different memory to prove yourself, you know."

"_Why…? It's so much more entertaining to watch your face turn red in mortification and horror over any reference to that day when Kushina invented Konoha's Sennen Goroshi and gave you a personal demonstration._"

"Naruto couldn't stop giggling like a loon when Kushina first started teaching us how to use that particular technique; she called it the ultimate pervert punishment," Takeshi snickered as he bit his lip and ducked his head.

"Have you been here all this time or did you only appear just now?"

"_I've been here the entire time._"

"Why are you dragging around Minato's ghost?" Hiruzen demanded as he turned back to Takeshi.

"Normally, the spirits I call upon leave as soon as I release them; unfortunately, there were a couple of complications involved in Minato's case and he'll be a permanent fixture in my life until I can find a way to fix it so that he can finally enter the afterlife and join his loved ones that have already passed. So, it's more that I can't get rid of him rather than a desire to hold him here."

"You never did finish answering my questions, Takeshi-san," Hiruzen stated in order to divert the attention away from the discomforting topic of dead shades (and his embarrassing personal history). "Aside from the belief that Naruto was required to be here by this time next year, why are you here? If you still had a year's time before you had to return, why come back sooner if you didn't want to be here?"

"Minato advised us to turn up around Naruto's eleventh birthday in order for us to have plenty of time to get settled in before Jiraiya turned up to claim him as his apprentice. And I am here because I refused to allow Naruto to return to a place where he had been hated alone and without a friendly face."

"You intend to become citizens of Konoha?" Hiruzen asked with some surprise.

"Yes."

"Once the hospital has confirmed that the two of you are descendants of Namikaze Kichiro, gentlemen, I'm certain that we can issue you your citizenship as a civilians of Konoha as a blood relation to a current citizen," Hiruzen began as he automatically reached for the form to request a full medical screening for all five members of the small family.

"Actually, Hokage-sama, I'm looking to join the shinobi force alongside Naruto," Takeshi corrected; his declaration making the Sandaime freeze.

"And I was hoping to apply for a business license and any permits necessary so that I could open a restaurant," Arata added a heartbeat later.

"I don't anticipate there being any issues with you joining the village as a businessman, Arata-san; attracting new businesses has been difficult during the past three years due to a recent reorganization of the village's infrastructure and bylaws. The restaurant and food industries in particular took a heavy hit these past few years as a number of businesses pulled out of Konoha. On the other hand, Takeshi-san, you are far too old for me to send through the Academy alongside of Naruto…"

"I will not allow Naruto to be sent back to the people that sabotaged his education; he worked too damn hard over the past three years to correct the damage they did."

"There have been many changes in the Academy curriculum since Naruto vanished and all of the staff have been sent through an intensive evaluation to insure that they are all qualified to continue teaching the future generations of our shinobi forces. I can arrange for Naruto to take an assessment test to determine whether or not he'd benefit from taking a minimum of one year at the Academy. Should he score high enough, I will gladly clear him to take the graduation test to earn his hitai-ate instead; providing that is what he wishes."

"That would be acceptable," Takeshi allowed as he relaxed once more. "I would be willing to take the same assessment tests in order to demonstrate my knowledge and skills."

"Actually, before you interrupted me, I was about to tell you that you would be required to visit the Konoha Hospital for an intensive medical examination to insure that you are in optimum health. After that, it would be necessary for you to demonstrate the full range of your skills to a panel of seasoned Jounin to determine if you have the skills necessary to join the ranks of Konoha's shinobi. Once we know whether or not you are physically capable of performing as a shinobi, you would be required to take a handful of assessment tests before we can arrange for you to be tutored in those subjects that you scored poorly in."

"That doesn't sound too different than what Minato told me to expect."

"You still wish to apply for a place on the shinobi force?"

"Hai; no point in wasting the grueling training I suffered through over the past two years."

Hiruzen nodded in response and grabbed five medical evaluation forms, a merchant's application (which doubled as a business license application), a shinobi application, a supplemental citizenship application (for Takeshi's son), and after a quick consultation on the young woman's intentions, a standard civilian's application for citizenship. Once he handed the applications over to the three adults along with their identification papers and the packet of legal documents, he politely asked them to fill out the applications right then before he kicked them out of his office.

Ibiki and Inoichi joined him a moment later; the two shinobi had been waiting just out of site outside of his window for just over an hour now.

* * *

**Translations:** Japanese to English

Arigatou – thank you  
Gaki – brat  
Hai – yes  
Inu – Dog  
Itoko – cousin  
Konoha no Kiiroi Senko – Konoha's Yellow Flash  
Mendoukusei – how troublesome or what a drag  
Moushiwake arimasen deshita – A very formal apology, usually used when one has seriously messed up and is apologizing to a stranger or a superior. I believe the literal translation is 'I have no excuse' and the deshita turns the phrase into the past tense. At least that is how I understood it. Again, I apologize to any native speakers for butchering your language; I'm blonde and I'm dyslexic which is really a terrible combination when it comes to learning new languages. I do try though. =)  
Tori – bird  
Urusai – shut up (rude)

**Techniques/Skills:**

Kage Bunshin – Shadow Clone  
Sennen Goroshi – One Thousand Years of Death (I used creative license to name Kushina as the original creator of this particular technique as the canon creator of it is left unstated as far as I could tell)

* * *

**10-24-15:** _Minor edits made to chapter to fix spelling/grammar mistakes and removed unnecessary author's notes._


	15. Running the Gauntlet

**Disclaimer:** _All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies and all Naruto characters are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites._

**Warnings:** _AU for parts of both worlds (i.e. kiss canon goodbye), mild character bashing, mild to moderate violence (there are shinobi involved after all), and a few others that will be announced as they crop up. _

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

**Chapter 15: Running the Gauntlet**

_Tuesday, September 25, 2001, Late Afternoon/Evening  
Konohagakure no Sato, Hi no Kuni_

Harry dropped down into the nearest chair in the lobby just outside of the Hokage's office and stared at the thick stack of forms he'd been handed by the Hokage with distaste. He was at least thankful that the application he was required to fill out was no where near as thick as the one Dudley had been given. With a small sigh of resignation, Harry dug into his cloak pocket to grab a quill and a bottle of ink (just two of the mundane items he kept in the magically expanded pockets of the cloak – a habit picked up from his year on the run during the war) and began the tedious task of filling out the numerous forms; starting with the rather short one that he'd been given to fill out for Teddy.

Just a few feet away, Dudley and Eloise were similarly occupied.

It only took Harry about fifteen minutes to fill out the supplemental citizenship application as all it had asked for was Teddy's basic information; such as name, age, gender, birthdate, current level of education, and next of kin. There was also a medical release form that required his signature authorizing the release of Teddy's medical information. He then filled out a similar form for himself that was a total of three pages and asked for the same information as Teddy's form in addition to; his martial status, his current financial situation, a list of his assets, a list of past and current employment, and a list of his job skills (not including his shinobi skills). He was also required to answer close to fifty questions about his reasons for moving to Konoha and whether or not he'd ever been convicted of a crime.

The next section of his application was another medical release form followed by a trio of medical form packets that would need to be filled out by the medic that performed his, his son's, and his cousin's medical evaluation; Harry just had to fill in his, Naruto's, and Teddy's personal information at the top of each page on both sides (one packet for each of them). When he picked up the next section of his application, he briefly thought he'd been given an extra medical evaluation packet by mistake until he realized that the packet was actually for a mental evaluation. He grimaced distastefully over the need for his mental health to be assessed by perfect strangers but diligently added his personal information to the spaces provided at the top of all four pages on both sides.

That brought him to the last and largest section of the application; a twenty page questionnaire about his shinobi skills and knowledge. The first page focused on general information; such as the age at which he began his shinobi training, how many years he'd been training, if he'd been an official shinobi of another village, the name (or names) of any shinobi that he'd been apprenticed to, what level he estimated his skills to be at, which branches of the shinobi arts he had training in, and which branches of the shinobi arts he was interested in training in. He was also asked several questions about the level of his chakra control, the size of his reserves (if known), and whether or not he had a Kekkei Genkai.

After that there were nine pages that each focused on one of the nine main branches of shinobi arts; taijutsu, ninjutsu, shurikenjutsu, genjutsu, kenjutsu, iryojutsu, fuuinjutsu, kinjutsu, and senjutsu. Harry would only fill out the questionnaires for five of the different branches; taijutsu, ninjutsu, shurikenjutsu, kenjutsu, and fuuinjutsu. He had no talent for genjutsu or iryojutsu (not to mention a lack of the fine control required for both branches) and he had not received any training in kinjutsu or senjutsu. The nine pages following those were the evaluation forms for the nine branches and all Harry had to do was fill in his personal information eighteen more times for those. The final page was yet another evaluation form; this one intended to record his current force, speed, and stamina ratings and predict his latent potential and luck.

Finished, Harry flicked the quill clear of ink before he set it aside and shook out his aching hand. He then took a moment to shuffle through his and Teddy's application to double check all of his answers (mostly to make certain he hadn't used his or Teddy's birth names at any point). He put the applications back into order at that point and rose to his feet to approach the masked shinobi that was currently doubling as the Hokage's secretary in order to make it known that he'd finished filling out his application. While he waited for instructions on what he was supposed to do next, Harry checked with his cousin and his cousin-in-law to see if they were finished (Eloise had finished hers but was currently helping Dudley fill out his application).

"Namikaze-san, the Hokage will see you now; please make certain to bring your completed application and pertinent legal documents and records with you," the bird masked AnBu guard that had escorted him to the Tower alongside Inu stated a moment later.

Harry sighed and gathered up his application before he squared his shoulders and reentered the Hokage's office. The first thing he noted was the two intimidating gentlemen that now flanked the Hokage. The one on the left was a bear of a man standing at roughly six feet four inches with a pair of painful looking scars bisecting his face. The stony expression he wore did not inspire warm and fuzzy feelings in the wizard but it also didn't set him to shaking in his boots; Harry had seen more terrifying scowls on any number of older and stronger wizards. The second man had long blond hair, creepy pupil-less blue eyes, was only three inches taller than Harry, and his mere presence set Harry on edge for some reason.

"Allow me to introduce you to Morino Ibiki; head of Konoha's Torture and Interrogation Department," the Hokage announced the moment Harry came to a stop in front of his desk as he gestured to the bearlike man on his left. "And Yamanaka Inoichi; one of our top interrogators and one of my trusted advisors. They are here to assess your current mental health and verify that you do not intend any harm towards Konoha or her people. If you will pass me your paperwork, Takeshi-san, I will begin reviewing your application while they evaluate your mental health."

Harry stiffly passed his application and his packet of legal documents over to the Hokage before he glanced to the man that had been introduced as Ibiki to wait for instructions. The bear-like man arched an eyebrow in surprise before he shot a questioning look at the blond man and Harry suspected that they'd expected him to shy away from the scarred man instead of ignoring the blond; the blond was far less intimidating in appearance, after all. It wasn't Inoichi's looks that bothered the wizard though, it was the uncomfortable feeling that the man could do him harm above and beyond physical pain that made him wish to avoid him.

"_I suggest that you avoid attempting to enter my cousin's mind in order to view his memories, Inoichi; you will not like the results,_" Minato advised as he shimmered into view once more; his appearance startling both interrogators.

"Drop the genjutsu, Namikaze-san," Ibiki ordered tightly.

"I'm am not using a genjutsu, I am incapable of using genjutsu because I lack the control necessary and therefore never bothered to learn more beyond the basics of how to recognize when one was cast on me and how to break it."

"I can sense that you are channeling chakra right now; if you are not maintaining the illusion of the Yondaime Hokage, then what are you using the chakra for?" Inoichi countered as he scowled at Harry.

"Ah, that's easy to explain," Harry replied as he dug through his pockets for the empty pouch that was tied to the set of glass disks he was currently sticking to various parts of his body. "In order to maintain what little control I have over my chakra, I have to consistently work on my chakra control every day. I usually put my disks away when we make camp each evening but because we're no longer on the road, I forgot."

Harry then set the pouch in the palm of his left hand and placed his right index finger over the recall rune sewn on the pouch and activated the rune at the same time as he ceased channeling his chakra. The pouch in his hand abruptly filled up accompanied by the sound of clinking glass. Harry shook the pouch to make the disks rattled once more before he slipped the pouch back into his pocket.

"Problem solved, ne?"

"No, there is still the matter of the illusion of a dead man that is standing in the middle of the room," Ibiki countered in a low growl.

"Minato can be annoying at times but he's not a bad person and he is family. My maternal aunt, on the other hand, is a real piece of work and I think I'd seriously consider committing suicide if her ghost ever decided to haunt me. That woman was three pies short of a holiday feast, if you want my opinion."

"Ignore the ghost; he's not a figment of your imagination and he will not harm anyone," the Hokage stated as he glanced up from Harry's application to address the two shinobi. "His presence is tied to a Kekkei Genkai that Takeshi-san told me he possesses which allows him to communicate with the dead and I've already confirmed that it is not a trick."

"Why can't I view his memories?" Inoichi asked Minato's spirit after he digested the Hokage's remark. "Scanning his memories would be the fastest way for us to determine whether or not it would be a risk to allow this young man to remain in Konoha."

"_Same reason why you'd be a fool to attempt to view my son's memories,_" Minato answered after he glanced at Harry for permission to reveal the presence of his passenger; Harry willing gave it because he knew that the Kyuubi's presence would have been noted during his medical exam anyway.

"You're a Jinchuuriki? How is that possible? Are there bijuu running wild in the Outer Countries as well then?" the Hokage demanded in rapid fire as he slammed Harry's paperwork on the desk and half rose out of his chair.

Harry crossed his arms defensively as he answered the Hokage's questions in a clipped tone, "In order; yes, long story, and no. I don't trust you enough to say another word on the matter right now. The only reason I let you to know about my status now is because it would have become readily apparent the moment you sent me for my medical exam."

"Is it actually a bijuu that you are holding then?"

"Yes."

"Will you at least tell us which one of the nine bijuu you are holding?" Ibiki inquired as his scowl deepened slightly.

"No. I don't fancy having my personal secrets spread about the village. If it becomes necessary at some point in the future for you to know about the furball, then I will reveal that information to those that need to know."

"Will you allow me to bring in a seal master to inspect your seal?" the Hokage asked as he cleaned up the scattered forms he'd dropped.

"If you are referring to Yamaguchi Jiraiya, then yes. Anyone else can go hang themselves. Yamaguchi-san has at least been given ringing endorsements by two people that I trust as both Kushina and Minato have told me that the man knows what he is doing when it comes to fuuinjutsu."

"Yes, I was referring to my student; I will summon him back to the village so that he can inspect your seal and Naruto's seal to insure that neither seal suffered any negative side effects from passing through the portal."

The subject of Harry's burden was dropped at that point as Ibiki and Inoichi began interrogating him while the Hokage returned to his perusal of Harry's application. Most of the questions they asked seemed repetitious as they asked the same question at least ten different ways as if they were purposefully trying to trip him up. They started with his social development, moved onto his emotional development, and then switched to his moral beliefs. After that they asked him about his bad habits, his views on authority figures, and how old he had been when he first took a life.

They morbidly prompted him for a total number of kills he'd made and asked if he'd ever been tortured before inquiring whether or not he suffered from nightmares. They then switched tracks again and asked him what family meant to him, if he had any happy memories, and if he had any hobbies that helped him to relax. They even broached the topic of his sex life to his mortification and all three of the older men in the office had stared at him in shock when he admitted to still being a virgin (he'd never gone passed the kissing stage, after all). That had them questioning Teddy's parentage but Harry was quick to point out that he never hid the fact that his son was adopted.

The two men wrapped up the mentally and emotionally exhausting interrogation by readdressing his feelings regarding taking another's life in self defense versus assassination, if he had any reservations about stealing, and whether or not he had any anger management issues or self-destructive tendencies (such as drinking in excess, taking recreational drugs, experimenting with explosives, or inflicting bodily harm upon his person).

When it was over, Harry answered a couple of questions that the Hokage had in regards to his training before he collected his legal documents and stumbled from the room. He happily noted that the dog-masked Inu had returned with the children at some point while he'd been grilled over the past hour and felt a measure of tension he'd been feeling since the children had been escorted from his side disappear. The weary wizard then commandeered the only couch in the lobby and promptly made himself comfortable before he fell asleep with Teddy curled up on his chest and Naruto parked on the arm of the couch to stand guard over the two of them.

While he slept off his exhaustion, Dudley and Eloise were both subjected to mental assessments (though their interrogations were not quite as intensive as they weren't looking to become shinobi) both separately and individually (do to their marital status). Once the couple was finished, Naruto was called into the Hokage's office for an interview and Dudley didn't hesitate to insist on sticking to the kid's side while Harry was out of it. The Hokage was less than pleased not to be allowed to question Naruto alone but let the matter slide because the young blond was a minor and the man had no wish to incite Harry's anger a second time.

Once the Hokage let Naruto go, Inu and Tori (the bird masked AnBu) were tasked with escorting the small family to the hotel suite that had been rented on their behalf; which would include guiding them to a vacant lot near the hotel where they could secure their wagons. Naruto was given the unenviable job of waking Harry up from his nap which saw the pre-teen being covered from head to toe in bright pink, pale purple, and eye blinding yellow paint courtesy of the paint filled balloon bombs that Harry had been carrying in his pockets for some reason. Naruto was not impressed with his new look and Harry was not happy to be awake which for some reason made both masked shinobi snicker each time they caught sight of a paint covered Naruto or the shuffling half asleep zombie that was Harry.

By the time they reached the wagons, Harry was wide awake (if still exhausted) and he spent a good twenty minutes inspecting all of the horses and wagons before he dispelled his shadow clone guards (to the surprise of their escort). He then tossed Teddy up on Felix's saddle before he smoothly mounted the gelding, gave Naruto a hand up onto the saddle behind him, and moved to the head of the caravan while Eloise climbed up onto the driver's seat of the last wagon (for appearance's sake) and Dudley took his usual seat on the driver's seat of the vardo. Harry then let the two AnBu guards know that they were ready to move out.

It would take them a half an hour to navigate the busy streets with the wagons in order to reach the vacant lot. Another hour was then spent setting up a temporary camp and unhitching the horses (the elves unable to help due to the number of people watching them). It would have taken even longer if Harry and Naruto hadn't supplied a handful of clones each to groom, feed, and picket the horses. The clones would then be left to watch over the camp and make certain that no one would bother the horses (a task made easy thanks to the pre-carved ward stones that Eloise had set up around the perimeter while the others had tended the horses).

The sun had set by the time they finished and the group quickly packed overnight bags with a couple changes of clothes, toiletries, and a few other odds and ends they thought they might need. Their next stop was the nearest restaurant to pick up a couple boxes of takeaway since they had no plans to leave their hotel room once they checked in for the night. Their escorts then took them to their temporary lodgings and Harry was pleased to note that the hotel was neither overly pretentious nor completely run down; meaning that he had not need to fear for his wallet being hit hard either due to extravagant costs or unscrupulous neighbors.

The group bid goodnight to their escort (both parties well aware of the fact that the two masked shinobi would watch over them until they were relieved by another pair of guards), took turns taking showers as they ate, and then promptly went to bed (Dudley and Eloise taking the bed while Harry and the two children camped out on the floor). Harry would sleep reasonably well that night considering that he slept on hard floor in a strange room that sat in the middle of an unfamiliar village; his nightmares held at bay by sheer exhaustion.

Harry was up with the rising sun the next morning (a longstanding habit since the day he began his shinobi training and education two years ago) and dressed for the day before he created a couple of clones to keep an eye on the others. He then slipped out of their suite, existed the hotel, and made his way to the wagons on foot. He was vaguely aware of the shadow he picked up the moment he left the hotel but paid the shinobi no mind as he ran through his morning exercises before he groomed Felix and Fidelis and saddled both geldings. Harry then mounted Fidelis for the first time since he'd been injured (after making certain the bruise was fully healed) and set off to explore the village while most of the residents were still in bed.

He eventually stumbled across a wide empty field lined with trees (not unexpected considering what he knew of the village) and spent another half an hour putting Fidelis through his paces while keeping a close eye on the dark gelding to make certain the workout didn't do him any harm. Once the half hour was up, Harry took the horse through a cool down before he spent a half hour working Felix after which he made his way back to the wagons. He found the rest of the family there tending to the rest of the horses (bar the two stallions, whom Harry would deal with once he'd finished with the geldings).

The five of them had time for a light breakfast before a messenger arrived from the Hokage informing them that he'd made arrangements for them to be given their medical assessments that morning. Inu arrived twenty minutes later in order to escort them to their appointments (the gray haired shinobi running late as usual – though none of the travelers were bothered by that). It wasn't until they arrived at what looked like a newly built school that Harry realized something was up as he'd expected to be led to the hospital for their appointments.

His apprehension was laid to rest just five minutes later when Harry learned that their medical assessments were going to be handled by Senju Tsunade and her apprentice, Kato Shizune. Harry knew who Tsunade was thanks to Minato's lessons and he knew that her medical skills were as legendary as her temper. Three and a half hours later, Harry was not nearly as pleased to have such a renowned medic administering his exam after he had been subjected to a full battery of tests and a second interrogation (this one revolving entirely around his medical history).

He was also less than pleased to discover that Tsunade got a kick out of embarrassing the hell out of him as she asked far too many pointed questions in an effort to determine if his sexual inexperience was the result of a social issue or a medical issue. Harry retaliated when it was all over by hitting the woman with a slow acting balding jinx; she would go bald over the course of a week and then stay bald for another week before her hair grew back. The only thing that had stopped him from using a faster form of retribution was his need for her to fill out his medical evaluation (hopefully with positive results).

Teddy and Naruto's exams were nowhere near as intensive as they were too young yet to worry about needing to go through half of the exams and therefore Tsunade finished with them rather quickly (with Teddy being required to revert to his base form in order to get accurate results). Shizune, on the other hand, had handled Dudley and Eloise's exams; both of which had been nearly as thorough as Harry's (the only reason they didn't receive quite the same battery of tests as Harry was again due to his decision to apply for entrance into the shinobi forces).

Ordeal over, Harry happily hightailed it out of Tsunade's domain and vowed to avoid getting injured at all costs least he be forced to endure Tsunade's brand of coarse humor in larger doses. An elf made lunch consisting of his favorite dishes and the afternoon split between playing with Teddy and Naruto and sparring with Naruto and Dudley went a long ways towards restoring his mood. After supper, he spent the rest of the evening lounging about their hotel suite while watching Naruto and Teddy play around with blocks.

The next morning, an unfamiliar man wearing the standard uniform of a Konoha shinobi (a dark blue long sleeved shirt, dark blue pants, open toed boots – also blue, green flack jacket, hitai-ate – with dark blue bandana, and a weapon holster strapped to the middle of the right thigh) turned up at the vacant lot. The man's dark brown hair was secured in a messy ponytail at the back of his head, his eyes were a dark brown bordering on black, had a long scar that ran across the bridge of his nose, and wore a friendly smile as he greeted Harry and stated that he was there to collect Naruto for his scheduled assessment tests.

Naruto recognized the man as Umino Iruka and greeted him with cautious enthusiasm (an indication that the man hadn't treated Naruto too terribly before but that Naruto still felt unsure about the man). Wary of just letting his cousin wander off with a stranger (even if Naruto did know the man), Harry determinedly tagged along while leading a saddled Teneo (the Andalusian stallion). As they walked, Harry grilled Iruka about how long he anticipated Naruto's assessments to take (between six and eight hours).

When they arrived at the Academy, Harry passed Naruto money for lunch, bid him good luck, and promised to return later to collect him (waiting until Naruto vanished into the building before he created a single clone to monitor the area and keep watch for the blond). Harry then wandered off to the same clearing he'd used the day before in order to train Teneo for a couple of hours under the eyes of yet another masked shinobi.

He started by warming the stallion up using the lunge line before he created a Kage Bunshin and cast a featherweight charm on the clone. The clone quickly mounted the stallion in order to teach the horse to respond to hand and knee signals without the fear of getting bucked off or hurting the young stallion. Harry continued to keep hold of the lunge line as the clone worked the horse; just in case the clone fell off or the horse was spooked as he had no desire to chase a runaway stallion on foot through the streets of the village.

After a full two hours of training, Harry led the horse back to the vacant lot where he rubbed him down before returning him to his picket line (which was on the opposite side of the camp as the shire stallion). He would pass another three hours of time working with Teddy on his lessons and eating lunch at a rather popular dango stand. He then took Teddy window shopping and people watching (two of Teddy's favorite pastimes; right after flying, horseback riding, and playing with Naruto, of course). After Teddy grew bored of that, Harry wandered in the direction of the Shinobi Academy and killed time by pushing Teddy on the rope swing that had been tied to the tree that sat directly across from the Academy building after dispelling his clone.

Naruto burst out of the Academy an hour later, the blond eager to escape the stares (his peers hadn't seen him in three years, after all) and the mind numbing tests. He was ecstatic to find both Teddy and Harry waiting for him and he eagerly tackled Harry with one of his power hugs before he kidnapped Teddy from the swing, twirled him around a couple of times, and plopped the toddler on his shoulders. The three of them then ambled off in the direction of the wagons while a bemused and slightly regretful Umino Iruka trailed along behind them (to make certain they didn't get lost or ambushed).

The morning of the twenty-eighth would find the family of five once again standing in the Hokage's office as the Hokage went over the results of their medical and mental evaluations while Tsunade, Shizune, Ibiki, and Inoichi offered the occasional comment and Inu stood silently off to one side. The Sandaime started off reporting a positive confirmation from their blood tests; Dudley, Harry, and Naruto were all related (which they'd already known). Unsurprisingly, Harry was also distantly related to Teddy (his mother and grandmother had both been Blacks by blood as had Harry's paternal grandmother – meaning that he and his father had both been Blacks as well).

Next, the Hokage went over the results of Naruto's and Teddy's medical results which were all positive in nature; both boys exceedingly healthy. A vaccination schedule was then set up for Teddy as he'd need to be given the remainder of his childhood immunizations (those that differed from the ones he'd received on the Outside as well as his booster shots) over the next five or six years. Just before the Hokage moved onto the next set of results, he declared that Naruto was remarkably well adjusted despite his rather rough start in life; that was the closest the man would ever come to saying that Naruto's three year vacation from the village had been beneficial for the boy.

Dudley's assessments were covered next and while he'd passed their mental evaluation with no problems (something he would not have managed just four of five years earlier), there were a few medical concerns. His childhood had been very hard on his health; his parent's overindulgence and his unhealthy diet for the first fourteen years of his life had left a mark on his body. He was currently healthy (after spending roughly six years turning his lifestyle and diet around) but he had a mild case of diverticulitis that would grow worse with age, a strong likelihood of heart disease in his future, a high risk of developing type two diabetes, a guarantee that he would suffer from arthritis in the future, and a defective chakra network.

The good news was that most of the health risks he faced could be controlled and contained with regular medical check-ups, a closely monitored diet, and regular exercise. There wasn't much that could be done to correct the problems with his chakra network but since he intended to live the life of a civilian that wouldn't have that large of an impact on his life since he had no need to mold chakra. However, if he was willing to allow Tsunade and a couple of other medics to study his chakra network, there was a chance that they could develop treatments for children that suffered from the same or similar defects. One such child was an Academy student by the name of Rock Lee.

To Harry's everlasting surprise, Dudley readily agreed to allow the medics to study his chakra network; further proof that his cousin had truly changed his way of thinking.

Once Dudley finished making arrangements with Shizune (both for his next medical check-up and for a screening of his chakra network), the Hokage moved on to Eloise's results. Eloise had passed her medical evaluation with flying colors (thanks in part to her magical core) though she would need to visit a medic regularly for the next nine months; apparently the newlyweds hadn't quite been careful enough during their two week long honeymoon and Eloise was about six weeks pregnant. Neither Eloise nor Dudley were too sad about that (they both wanted at least two or three children), though they had originally intended to hold off on starting a family until after they were settled.

The results of her mental evaluation weren't quite as stellar, though they hadn't found anything that would prevent her from being granted citizenship in Konoha. It was more that she was suffering from a mild case of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) that had been caused by six years of bullying and the recent wizarding war. On top of that, she still had low self esteem (which was also partly due to the bullying along with her lack of confidence in her magical abilities due to being a low level witch – meaning that her magical core size and strength fell below average for her age group). Both issues were fairly easy to address with therapy though; which was why her results wouldn't see her application for citizenship denied.

The Sandaime called for a break at that point so that everyone could grab something to eat for lunch. After the meal, Harry would return to the Hokage's office alone but for his masked escort to face the Hokage and his evaluation panel in order to hear his results. He actually passed both evaluations by the skin of his teeth (and that was mostly because of the figurative bombshell he'd dropped on them in the form of his status as a Jinchuuriki). Mentally, he had been diagnosed with a rather severe case of PTSD (due to his numerous adventures at Hogwarts and the large part he played in the recent war); something he'd already been aware of and had been in the process of dealing with during the year leading up to their departure from Japan.

That condition alone would not have been a problem, simply because there were very few shinobi who _didn't_ suffer from some form of PTSD due to their rather violent profession. No, the reason he nearly failed the mental evaluation was because he was also suffering from a condition known as Magically Induced Soul Trauma (MIST) that was caused by excessive exposure to dark magic (specifically with the dark magic associated with the Unforgivable Curses). Of course, the shinobi were not aware of MIST and therefore had misdiagnosed the condition as a severe anger management issue coupled with extreme mood swings.

Treatment would involve monthly therapy sessions with Ibiki (since Harry wanted nothing to do with Inoichi) for at least two years (unless he showed marked improvement), intensive physical training (to allow him a release for his anger and frustration), and encouragement to indulge in those activities that he found soothing and relaxing. He would also be placed on the AnBu watch list for the foreseeable future (something Minato had warned him would probably happen even if he had passed his mental evaluation with flying colors). Harry's response to both his diagnosis and the proposed treatments was rather anticlimactic; he simply shrugged his shoulders and accepted that he was messed up in the head (something that he'd known for years).

The Hokage moved onto his medical results at that time and while he was clearly healthy (his magic made certain of that) there were several anomalies that concerned them. The first and most concerning was the current state of his chakra coils; the shinigami had done him no favors in turning him into a host and forcefully expanding his coils. The constant increasing influx of the Kyuubi's chakra wasn't exactly helping the situation either. The only reason he was still alive, still had a functioning chakra network, and wasn't in constant pain was because his magic was constantly working to repair the damage to his coils as they continued to expand to accommodate the Kyuubi's chakra.

The treatment they proposed to deal with it involved expending large amounts of chakra on a daily basis (in order to make room for the influx of chakra) and weekly appointments with Tsunade to have the stress damage healed (which would ease the strain on his magic – not that they were aware of that tidbit).

When they asked if he knew why his chakra coils were such a mess (since his coils should have had more than enough time to adjust to the bijuu's chakra during his childhood), Harry found himself reluctantly informing them that he'd only been a host for approximately two years. That had shocked them to the core, as had the information that he'd had no shinobi training (and therefore no chakra training) prior to becoming a host and that his coils had been forcefully expanded in order to accommodate the bijuu's chakra. When Tsunade had demanded to know how the hell he had survived the sealing, Harry had given her a pained smirk and told her that surviving was what he did best before using the Kekkei Genkai card to explain things.

The next issue addressed was the presence of a highly concentrated antivenin in his blood; one that they couldn't match to a corresponding venom. Harry couldn't exactly tell them about the basilisk without explaining about his magic (something that he was not ready to trust them with as of yet) and so instead simply claimed that the snake that had bit him had been a one of a kind creature that was the equivalent of a boss summons. When asked what happened to the creature, Harry truthfully told them that he'd killed it and that that was how he'd gotten bit.

The last anomaly had everything to do with Harry's magic. Unlike Eloise, who was on the low end of the spectrum, Harry was rather powerful magically speaking (a direct result of his difficult childhood, his numerous adventures at Hogwarts, and the war). He also had the potential to grow stronger during the last four years before he reached magical maturity at age twenty-five. On top of that, he had been a level five mage prior to the shinigami shoving the Kyuubi into his body and mages were actually fairly rare in this day and age since few magicals were actually faced with the trials necessary to open their magical cores.

The difference between a mage and a powerful wizard was that a mage's entire body was suffused with magic due to their magical cores being opened (meaning their cores allowed their magic to flow freely between their core and their body). That didn't mean that a mage could use wandless magic willy-nilly or that they were constantly walking around radiating wild magic, it just meant that the majority of their magic was not restricted to their core. Being a mage was a double edged sword as well, since the free flowing magic meant they healed faster and that their bodies received a boost that made them just a little bit faster, a little bit stronger, and a little bit harder to bruise. Unfortunately, that also meant that extreme magical exhaustion would affect them physically as well as magically – since their body would temporarily lose the extra boost that their magic gave them.

Mages were measured, not by the size of their magical reserves (though they were always magically powerful), but by the degree to which their core had been opened. There are exactly nine levels with level one being the lowest and nine being the highest; formerly placing Harry right in the middle of the scale at five. His current level was a bit harder to determine because his magical core was still in a chaotic state due to the sealing of the Kyuubi; something that wouldn't have that much of a impact on his casting unless he drained his core completely but made it difficult to determine the amount of magic flowing between his body and his core.

An immature magical became a mage when they endured and survived a magically traumatic event that ripped open their magical cores while their cores were still flexible enough to recover from the damage done. A mature wizard in the same situation, if they lived, would end up losing their magic completely because their core could no longer adapt or heal the extensive damage. Harry's core had been opened on the night that Voldemort had first attempted to kill him with the Killing Curse.

Once a mage has been awakened (meaning his core has been opened), subsequent traumatic events would increase the mage's level; which meant that the size and or number of the tears in his core would increase to allow for a larger amount of magic to flow into the body. Unlike an awakening, it was not necessary for magic to be involved in obtaining the next level; physical or severe emotional trauma could see a mage jumping in levels. In Harry's case, he reached level two as a direct result of the malnutrition he suffered through his childhood due to an inadequate diet because his body had required more magic in order to compensate for a lack of proper vitamins and minerals. At the same time, his magical core expanded to increase his magical reserves and the amount of magic his core produced because his body was constantly drawing on his magic.

The rest of Harry's growth as a mage occurred during his years at Hogwarts; level three reached in his second year when the basilisk had bit him and Fawkes healed him with his tears, level four had been reached at the end of his fifth year when Voldemort had possessed him shortly after being emotionally traumatized by Sirius's death, and he reached level five when he'd been struck with a second Killing Curse at age seventeen (ridding himself of Riddle's horcrux at the same time). The other dangerous situations that he'd ended up in only saw his magical reserves being expanded further in order to accommodate the high volume of magic his body used to constantly heal itself.

Being turned into a host for half of the Kyuubi's soul will have undoubtedly increased his level yet again; the only question was whether he gained a single level (which was guaranteed because of the trauma involved) or if he gained multiple levels (simply because of the severity of the trauma involved; most of which had been directly to his magical core and chakra coils).

It was that free flowing magic spread throughout his body that Tsunade had noticed and because she had no knowledge or understanding of his magic, she had no idea what it was she was seeing. In the end, the anomaly was again attributed to his Kekkei Genkai (which is basically what his magic was). The Hokage and Tsunade both grumbled a bit when Harry refused to give a detailed explanation of exactly what his Kekkei Genkai entailed but they had pretty much expected the secrecy since few Kekkei Genkai carriers ever gave out secrets that could see them killed one day.

Harry was dismissed not long after that with instructions to be at the training field where he'd been exercising his horses at seven the following morning to meet with the panel of shinobi that would be assessing his shinobi skills.

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**Translations:** Japanese to English

Yamaguchi – Japanese surname meaning mountain mouth (and while I doubt it means that one's mouth is as big as a mountain, I thought it a fitting last name for Jiraiya since he does have a rather big mouth that gets him in lots of trouble)

**Translations:** Latin to English

Teneo – to keep on, persist, persevere, endure

**Techniques/Skills:**

Fuuinjutsu – Sealing techniques  
Genjutsu – Illusion techniques  
Kenjutsu – Sword skills/techniques  
Kinjutsu – Forbidden techniques  
Iryojutsu – Healing techniques  
Ninjutsu – Ninja art techniques  
Senjutsu – Sage techniques (think sage mode)  
Shurikenjutsu – thrown weapon techniques  
Taijutsu – hand to hand techniques/martial arts

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**10-25-15:** _Minor edits made to chapter to fix spelling/grammar mistakes and removed unnecessary author's notes._


	16. Showing Off

**Disclaimer:** _All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies and all Naruto characters are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites._

**Warnings:** _AU for parts of both worlds (i.e. kiss canon goodbye), mild character bashing, mild to moderate violence (there are shinobi involved after all), and a few others that will be announced as they crop up. _

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

**Chapter 16: Showing Off**

_Saturday, September 29, 2001, All Day  
Konohagakure no Sato, Hi no Kuni_

Harry arrived at the specified training field forty-five minutes early with both Felix and Fidelis in tow; both geldings saddled with a pair of swords strapped to their saddles. He secured both horses off to one side of the clearing where they would be out of the way until he needed them for his demonstration before he began stretching out and warming up. The Jounin that had been selected to assess his skills and several additional shinobi that were interested in observing the assessment (including the Hokage, Ibiki, Tsunade, and Shizune) began arriving at ten minutes to seven.

At exactly seven o'clock, the Hokage introduced Harry to the Jounin on the panel. First there was Maito Gai with his bowl cut hair, bushy eyebrows, and green spandex body-suit (who would be testing him in taijutsu). Next was Shiranui Genma who wore the standard shinobi uniform, tied his hitai-ate like a bandana over his head (metal plate at the back of his head), and chewed on an oversized wooden toothpick (a Tokubetsu Jounin who would test his competency in shurikenjutsu).

Then there was Shirakumo Hayama a rather stern faced man with iron gray hair and a vertical scar at the right corner of his mouth (he would be testing Harry in kenjutsu). After that, he was introduced to was Nara Shikaku who had a pair of scars marring the right side of his face, wore his black hair in a messy ponytail that made it look like he had a pineapple on his head, had a small pointed goatee, and a rather bored expression on his face (who would be analyzing his over all performance and determining his latent potential and luck).

Akimichi Chouza was a tall heavyset man with thick red hair, two tattoo-like wavy lines running from his eyes to the back of his jaw, and wore brown and green armor over an outfit similar to the standard shinobi uniform (he would be assisting Shikaku). Lastly, there was Hatake Kakashi who had gravity defying silver hair, wore a cloth face mask that hid the lower half of his face, wore his hitai-ate canted at an angle over his brow so that it also covered his left eye, and who had barely arrived in time for the Hokage to introduce him (he would be testing him in ninjutsu and Harry knew that the man was also his AnBu Guard, Inu – thanks to Minato). Jiraiya, once he arrived later that afternoon, would later test him on his grasp of fuuinjutsu.

Once the introductions were completed (which had not included those shinobi that had tagged along to gawk at Harry), Harry's assessment began with an all out taijutsu spar against Gai. The Jounin started his attack with the basic Academy forms until he had an idea where Harry stood skill wise before he switched to using his signature style, the Gouken Ryuu. Harry strictly used the Mizuken Ryuu as that was the form he'd spent the most time learning and the one that he felt the most comfortable using.

It was also a style that the older shinobi present (those that had known or fought alongside of Uzumaki Kushina) had immediately recognized.

Now, while Harry was half decent at taijutsu, he had only been training for a year and a half and he was no where near Gai's level of proficiency. He also lacked the physical strength to match Gai; his advantages lay in his speed and flexibility (though Gai was faster than him). The result was that Harry got his ass handed to him repeatedly during the course of the twenty minute spar and would walk away from the assessment with an assortment of bruises and a healthy respect for Gai's fists and feet. The fact that he'd actually lasted a full twenty minutes at his skill level had actually impressed those watching (most them familiar with Gai's abilities) as had the fact that he'd gotten back up each and every time he'd been knocked down.

After the spar, Harry's injuries (mostly just bruises as he'd managed to avoid Gai's more devastating blows) were treated by Tsunade before he was given ten minutes to rest. The next person he faced was Genma and he was instructed to launch a series of kunai and shuriken attacks at the Jounin (to assess his ability to accurately attack with the throwing weapons during a fight rather than just testing his accuracy in hitting stationary targets). Harry easily tracked the man's movements about the clearing but his attacks were nothing impressive as most were slightly off center.

At the end of ten minutes, their positions were switched and Genma sent a veritable flood of kunai, shuriken, and senbon at him. It was in that moment that Harry's skills in shurikenjutsu shone as he blocked all of the shuriken, dodged the barely seen senbon, and caught every single kunai that the older man sent in his direction. At the end of another ten minutes, Harry was covered in a sheen of sweat, completely unharmed (not even his clothes had been sliced), and grinning like a loon because he'd enjoyed the workout. More than a couple shinobi called him nuts for enjoying having deadly weapons thrown at him.

He had another ten minute break after that before Hayama approached him to question him about his knowledge of chakra based kenjutsu techniques (which was non-existent when using a sword, though he admitted to using his twin 'daggers' as a focus for elemental attacks) and confirm the types of sword that he had been trained to use. The man questioned him extensively in regards to the broadsword since it was a type of swords that was not commonly used in the Elemental Nations and few people knew what a broadsword was let alone how to wield one on this side of the portal.

Immediately after that conversation, Harry took part in a series of ten minute sword fights that tested his competence in using each type of blade with a five minute break in between each match.

The first match was using a tanto; the blade that Harry had the least amount of training using and he walked away from that fight with more than a few cuts. His second match using a katana was slightly better, though again he would walk away with several cuts that Shizune healed for him (Tsunade unable to handle the sight of blood). His third match was one that he managed to hold his own in as he'd worked the hardest learning to how to wield the matched set of wakizashi blades in conjunction with the Mizuken Ryuu taijutsu style. He was still far from being considered a master (of either the style or the blades) but he was at least competent enough that he actually avoided additional injuries during that spar.

The final three matches that Harry participated in were against one of his own clones in order to best showcase his skills with the broadsword; the one sword he felt the most confident in using. He spent the first of those three matches fighting his clone on foot as they traded blows. The second match saw him facing his mounted clone while he remained at a slight disadvantage on foot. And the final match, which actually ended up running for twenty-five minutes because he lost track of time and his audience was too caught up in the intense fight to call the time at the end of the first ten minutes, was fought entirely on horseback.

Harry would take a twenty minute break after that and he spent the entire time cooling down the winded horses and checking them for any injuries. While he worked he answered another couple of dozen questions from Hayama about the variations of the fighting style he used when wielding the broadsword. He also asked about the lack of reaction from the horses in response to the clashing and swinging of blades and Harry told him that it required extensive training to acclimatize the horses to the noise, shifting balance, and constant danger. What he failed to mention was that he used a combination of seals and rune wards on their bridles and halters to keep his horses calm (though that wouldn't stop them from reacting to pain or someone popping up in front of them without any warning) to supplement that training.

Once he'd finished taking care of the horses and answering most of Hayama's questions, Harry was asked to give a demonstration of every single jutsu he knew back to back (which would allow the Jounin watching to gauge his mastery over each jutsu, measure his stamina based upon the level of jutsu used, and get an idea where his strengths were when it came to ninjutsu). He was also told to put as much power into each jutsu as he could.

Harry started with the Kage Bunshin and created a small army that was easily two hundred strong (roughly one eighth of the full number he could create) and sturdy enough to take two solid blows (or a dozen glancing blows) before a third blow would dispel them (not counting lethal blows that would take them down instantly). Kakashi tested the durability of a couple of clones while Harry dispelled all but twenty of the remaining clones; which he sent to escort the horses back to the wagons and work on chakra control for the rest of the day. After that he demonstrated his grasp of the Academy basics; the Henge, the Kawarimi, and the regular Bunshin (the latter jutsu one that he had trouble with because of his poor control and large reserves).

Next, he demonstrated the concealment technique Minato had taught him; Meisai Gakure no Jutsu. He then performed three versions of the Shunshin no Jutsu; the standard version that left behind leaves, the AnBu version that created a smokescreen, and the mist version that left a cloud of dense moisture in the air (Kushina had taught him the latter version while Minato had taught him the two former versions). He demonstrated the ability to use two additional clone jutsu after that; the first one a variation of the Kage Bunshin called the Bunshin Bakuha and the second one was the Mizu Bunshin (also taught to him by Kushina).

The remainder of his ninjutsu demonstration was rather destructive as he used; Fuuryuudan no Jutsu, Suiryuudan no Jutsu, Doryuudan no Jutsu, Karyuudan no Jutsu, and the Rairyuudan no Jutsu (each one creating a giant destructive dragon out of a single element). Using shadow clones, he demonstrated several combination attacks using the same five jutsu (combining wind and fire, wind and water, wind and earth, wind and lightning, fire and earth, fire and lighting, water and lightning, water and earth, and his most devastating attack which combined wind, water, and lighting). The very last two jutsu he showed off were two of Minato's signature techniques; the Rasengan and the Hiraishin no Jutsu.

He was more than a little winded at that point and feeling uncomfortable because his sweat soaked cloths were sticking to him. He didn't bother asking for another break though as he shifted focuses and drew the Elder Wand in order to demonstrate the handful of elemental spells that he intended to pawn off as additional elemental jutsu; all he had to do was emit a small chakra pulse each time he cast the spells. He was fully aware that they'd think he had used a dagger to channel his chakra into each jutsu since they would be unable to see his wand for what it was; which was what he intended.

He started with fire based spells that included producing flames of varying heat (from barely warm to near searing), a flame whip, and an airborne phoenix made of Fiendfyre (the last one very carefully controlled to prevent it from starting an unstoppable fire). After that he conjured a near flood of water, created a water whip, formed a wall of water ten feet high, and drew up a water construct in the shape of a unicorn that charged down the spying Naruto (who was supposed to be training) and soaked the blond to the bone. The examples using wind, earth, and lightning were all similar as he formed whips from each element, formed animated constructs from each element (one of which chased Naruto all the way to the wagons), and created near solid shields from the elements.

He then demonstrated the ability to combine elements to make an ice whip, a lava whip, and a lightning charged water whip as well as an ice wall, a lava wall, and a pair of animated ice wolves that fought each other. The last magical ability he demonstrated was a spell that fired a dozen silver arrows (normally used to fight rogue werewolves). There were hundreds of more spells that Harry could have shown them but he didn't trust them enough openly use the Stunning Spell, the Stinging Hex, the Blasting Curse, and other such spells. And while he could have demonstrated apparation, there was no point since it was so similar to Minato's Hiraishin.

By the time Harry announced that he was finished, it was almost noon and he was ready to take a five hour nap. His assessment was far from over yet though, and he was told to take an hour and a half break to eat lunch before he returned to the training field in order to use his ninjutsu in a one on one battle with Kakashi – so he could demonstrate how competently he could fight using the skills that he'd just demonstrated. Harry had given Kakashi an unimpressed scowl before he wandered off to grab a strong cup of tea and something sugary to eat; he just knew he was going to need the energy.

When he returned to the training field, Harry found that the number of shinobi that had gathered to watch the exhibition had increased due to those that had been there for his morning demonstration spreading the word to their friends about the Namikaze that would be facing Hatake Kakashi in a one on one ninjutsu spar. Harry wasn't certain whether or not to be irritated that he was once again being thrust into the spotlight but eventually decided that it wasn't that big of a deal because it wasn't really all that different than playing Quidditch in front of the entire school.

Harry barely had enough time to run through a couple of stretches before Genma called for Harry and Kakashi to begin the match. Unlike his earlier matches with Gai, Genma, and Hayama, Harry's match with Kakashi stirred up memories of the wizarding war due to the elemental attacks that the man threw at him. And while Harry never lost sight of the fact that he was supposed to be having a 'friendly' spar with the man, he didn't hesitate to go all out because of those memories. He also slipped up several times and used several spells that couldn't be passed off as jutsu (including at least three attempts to catch the Jounin with the Stunning Spell).

The match would last for close to two hours as Kakashi intentionally pushed Harry to his limits and then pushed him some more to discover just how far he could be pushed. For the majority of the fight, Harry had been entirely on the defensive as he dodged and blocked at least three hundred different offensive jutsu. During the rare times when he sent Kakashi on the defensive, the other man would resort to the Kawarimi in order to escape and turn things back around on Harry. And while Harry could use the substitution technique as well, he was no where near proficient enough with the basic jutsu to use it as effectively as the Jounin did.

Genma only ended the match when Harry collapsed to his knees in complete exhaustion; the wizard far too tired and far too sore to think, let alone continue fighting.

Shizune tended to his injuries as the crowd scattered now that the demonstration was over until the only ones that were still present were the Jounin that had been assessing his skill level, the Hokage, Ibiki, Tsunade, and an unfamiliar white haired man whose back was currently facing Harry. Once Shizune had declared that she'd finished treating his injuries, Harry dropped backwards onto the relatively untouched patch of grass he had fallen on, closed his eyes, and squirmed around a bit until he was comfortable; the wizard fully intended to nap right where he was. He was disturbed by the Hokage when he was just on the edge of falling asleep and the old man was lucky that Harry was far too exhausted to make the effort to prank him in return.

"I must confess that I was impressed by the skills that you displayed today, Namikaze-san," the Sandaime admitted as his shadow fell over the wizard. "I was not expecting you perform as well as you had given the age at which you began your shinobi training and the length of time that you have been training."

"Arigatou, Hokage-sama," Harry wearily murmured as he reluctantly opened his eyes and sat up so as not to be rude to the man.

"I will send word once I have had time to review the results of today's evaluation and after Jiraiya has had the time to test you on your grasp of fuuinjutsu so that we can discuss the status of your application."

"Wakarimasu, Hokage-sama."

The Hokage took his leave along with the group of Jounin that had been evaluating him and the two medics present just a moment later but before Harry could fall back onto the ground to take his desired nap, he found himself being hauled up onto his feet by Ibiki. Harry staggered sideways and nearly fell flat on his face when his legs were slow to support his weight due to how tired and sore he was feeling. Once he steadied himself (using sheer willpower because that was the only power he had left at the moment), Harry threw the bear of a man a dirty look. Ibiki just smirked at him in response.

"I thought you might prefer to return to your hotel room using your own two feet but I could always carry you, if you are too tired to manage," Ibiki stated when Harry scowled at him in return.

"I was perfectly content to spend the rest of the afternoon and all night right where I was," Harry retorted grumpily as he made a halfhearted attempt to stretch out his aching muscles.

"That would have been a bad idea for several reasons; the field needs to be repaired so that it will be usable for future training sessions, you'd run the risk of catching a cold sleeping outside in your exhausted state, and you are currently in no condition to protect yourself if you are attacked."

Harry stared at the man without comprehension for a full minute before he muttered a weary, "whatever," and turned to walk away only to bounce off of what felt like a brick wall and end up sprawled on the ground once more as he moaned out a pathetic, "Itai…"

The sound of amused laughter had Harry pushing himself up onto his elbows so he could glare at the jerk who found his current misery so entertaining only for his annoyance to disappear when he realized what or more like, who he had run into. Harry hadn't recognized the white haired man earlier because he hadn't been able to see his face but there was no mistaking the red lines that ran down his face from the outer corner of his eyes like bloody tear tracks, the wild mane of white hair that framed his face, or the horned hitai-ate with the kanji for oil that he wore on his forehead.

Harry probably should have recognized him by his clothes earlier since the man's outfit was exactly as Minato described; a mesh armor suit worn beneath an olive green gi with a long sleeveless dark red haori over top of that, a pair of wooden geta, and a monster scroll strapped to his back. Unfortunately, Harry hadn't had two thoughts to rub together when he'd first seen the man from behind and therefore hadn't noted the obvious clues. Shaking away the fuzz that was filling his brain, Harry gingerly climbed back up onto his feet. He swayed for a brief moment before he shook off his exhaustion just enough to execute a respectful bow as he greeted Yamaguchi Jiraiya; the Gama Sennin, one of the legendary Sannin, renowned fuuinjutsu master, and most importantly Minato's mentor and friend.

"It is an honor to meet you at last, Yamaguchi-sama."

Jiraiya immediately stopped laughing and lightly scowled at Harry (an obvious indication that he disliked his full name) before he replied, "Call me Jiraiya, gaki."

"I think I can do that…"

"Rumor has it that you're a long lost Namikaze that popped up out of the woodwork recently."

"Not rumor, fact," Harry corrected as he allowed Jiraiya to start leading him away from the ruined training ground while Ibiki followed silently in their wake. "Namikaze Takeshi at your service, Jiraiya-sama."

"Minato's greatest dream was to track down a living family member," Jiraiya stated with a trace of sadness.

"I know, he told me that himself the night when I first met him."

"Right… you do know that Minato's dead, ne?"

"Yes, I know. His spirit is also walking just to the left of you. He's currently grinning like a loon and he's been nattering on and on about how good it is to see you again after all of this time for the last five minutes."

Harry watched from the corner of his eye as Jiraiya turned to give him a funny look before the Sennin glanced to the left and promptly let out a girlish scream and jumped several feet in the air the moment he found Minato's shade walking along beside him wearing a large grin. The wizard couldn't help but snicker as he shuffled to a stop to watch as Jiraiya repeatedly tried to dispel a non-existent genjutsu; it never ceased to amuse him when people overreacted to seeing their first ghost.

"_Sensei, you might as well stop wasting your chakra trying to dispel me; not only do we both know that I am not a genjutsu, I know for a fact that Sarutobi already explained my presence to you. I was standing right beside you and heard every single word he told you._"

"I was certain that sensei was just yanking my chain," Jiraiya muttered as he quickly regained his composure and began walking once more. "I don't suppose you're willing to prove that you really are you…?"

"_I suppose I could bring up the time that you… no, that's no good; you made me swear never to mention that in public. I guess that means I could use the day that you… no, that won't work either; Kushina ordered me to never speak of _**that**_ again on pain of death, dismemberment, and the couch. That just leaves the time when you said… actually, I can't even bring myself to say that out loud. Will reminding you how I came up with my son's name be good enough for you?_"

"That is more than enough; there's absolutely no need to bring up any embarrassing stories," Jiraiya quickly assured Minato's spirit as he shuddered.

"Thank you, Jiraiya-sama; Minato's shared more than enough traumatizing stories with me about things I never wanted to know," Harry murmured sincerely before he was forced to stifle a yawn as he took several staggering steps to the right as he momentarily lost his balance. He probably would have fallen over if not for Ibiki moving up and catching him by the shoulder until he regained his footing.

"Do I need to carry you after all, Namikaze-san?"

"That depends…"

"On what?"

"On whether or not you'd like to walk around in a pink tutu while singing crude limericks at the top of your lungs for the next thirty days," Harry retorted without missing a beat even as he stumbled yet again and saved himself by catching hold of Jiraiya's vest.

"Steady there, gaki; people are going to think that you're drunker than a skunk if you keep weaving and stumbling about like that," Jiraiya declared with a laugh as he latched onto Harry's elbow to hold him steady.

"My give-a-damn is broken at the moment; please ask me to care some other time when I have the strength to laugh in your face for believing I'd ever care about maintaining a 'proper' public image."

"Well aren't you just a right bundle of sunshine," Jiraiya muttered in a voice that dripped with sarcasm.

"That's because someone probably woke him up in the middle of a nap and niisan is a right grump when his naps are interrupted for anything short of an apocalypse," Naruto declared as he popped up from out of nowhere; the blond had come looking for Harry the moment he finished his training.

"Stop exaggerating, squirt," Harry growled in mock irritation as he noted the intent inspection that Jiraiya was giving the blond.

"I wasn't exaggerating, I was downplaying…"

"Remind me to prank you for that later, itoko."

Naruto just laughed and dashed off to let the others know that the wizard was finished for the day; both literally and figuratively speaking since he'd sleep through the night the moment his head hit the pillow. As Ibiki and Jiraiya handed Harry over to Dudley, Jiraiya made arrangements to meet with Harry at some point the next day in order to test his seal knowledge and to examine the containment seals on both Naruto and Harry. Dudley delivered Harry to a bed a minute later and the wizard gratefully crashed without even bothering to change out of his dirty clothes.

His elves would rectify that oversight with a few well placed finger snaps that removed the dirt and sweat from his body, switched out his dirty clothes for clean pajamas, and cleaned the soiled clothes; all without waking him and without being seen by the AnBu guards that were still shadowing the mage.

Harry was up with the sun the next morning feeling a little stiff and sore still but far better than he had before he'd slept through the night. A nice hot shower washed away the worst of his aches and pains as well as the thin residue of dirt and sweat that clung to him. He then got dressed and headed for the wagons and the horses. The moment he stepped through the wards, the horses began dancing back and forth while tossing their heads and whinnying for attention; all of the equines more than a little restless over spending several days penned up – even Felix and Fidelis were restless despite the fact that they had been taken out for exercise nearly every day since they had arrived.

The plans that Harry had made to work with Teneo once again were shelved as he instead created half a dozen clones to help him groom all of the shires and clip their lead ropes to an extra long rope in set intervals on alternating sides so that he could lead the entire group. Once that was done, he tossed a saddle on Felix, mounted the gelding, and instructed four of his clones to spread out, pick a draft horse, and mount up (to help him keep the shires from getting unruly as he exercised them). He then gave a short sharp whistle to get the horses' attention before he nudged Felix with his heels and led the string of fifteen draft horses out of the vacant lot with the final two clones following along behind to clean up any messes that the horses dropped in their wake.

Since he didn't really know the village all that well, Harry kept Felix and the rest of the horses to a sedate walk and let his eyes take in his surroundings as the group moved through the village. The small number of people that were up and about (most of them shinobi) would pause in their tracks for a brief moment over the unexpectedness of seeing someone leading a bunch of horses through the streets but none of them made any attempts to stop him or talk to him. Part of the reason for that was because of the two masked guards that were obviously monitoring his every move from the rooftops.

Harry was just nearing the edge of the village and the towering wall that surrounded it when he crossed paths with Maito Gai; who was currently walking along the street. Upside down. On his finger tips. Harry pulled Felix to a stop and stared at the man for nearly five full minutes before he shook his head and tapped his heels against Felix's sides to get him moving again. He'd barely guided the gelding and the long line of shires to the opposite side of the street (so they wouldn't run over the Jounin) when the green glad shinobi called out a greeting and flipped himself over onto his feet.

"Ohayou gozaimasu my _**youthful **_friend, it is pleasing to see such a friendly and _**youthful **_face up and about at such a _**youthful **_time of the morning after your _**youthful**_ demonstration yesterday!"

Harry stared again as he tried to just process what he heard before he slowly replied, "Ohayou, Gai-san_._"

"So what brings your _**youthful **_self out to the edges of the village on this _**youthful **_morning?"

"Ano… the horses were bored; they're used to hauling the wagons from sunup to sunrise and they've been cooped up since we arrived. You wouldn't happen to know where I could find a decent stretch of deserted road where I could let them have a bit of a run, would you? Only it has to be inside of the village because I get the feeling the Hokage wouldn't be happy with me if I tried to step outside the gates without his express permission."

"There is a fifteen foot buffer between the village walls and the last line of houses and trees where you should have plenty of room to run without worrying about any civilians unexpectedly stepping into your path. If you follow me, I can show you where to find the closest entrance."

"I wouldn't want to pull you away from your training… if you could just give me directions, then I'm sure I could find my way."

"You're concern for my training makes your _**Flames of Youth **_burn brightly beneath the leaves, my friend! There is no need for you to worry though, I will make up the lost time by keeping pace with you and your _**youthful **_beasts of burden as you stretch their legs or I will climb the stairs to the top of the Hokage Monument on my hands while carrying a two hundred pound boulder with my legs!"

"Okay…?" Harry hesitantly agreed in bewilderment as he stared at the man who was holding up the victory sign at Harry while flashy his pearly whites in a grin that eerily reminded him of Lockhart as the morning sun glinted off of the gleaming ivory of his teeth.

Up on the rooftops above the scene, a purple haired kunoichi in a cat mask laughed silently while the silver haired man in the dog mask beside her groaned softly in dismay before they slipped through the morning shadows and followed in the wake of the odd pair leading a train of horses through the streets below.

* * *

**Translations:** Japanese to English

Ano – uh/um  
Itai – ouch  
Ohayou/ohayou gozaimasu – good morning  
Wakarimasu – I understand (formal – present tense)

**Techniques/Skills:**

Gouken Ryuu – Strong Fist Style  
Mizuken Ryuu – Water Fist Style (taijutsu style used by Uzumaki Clan – created by author).  
Bunshin Bakuha – Shadow Clone Explosion  
Doryuudan no Jutsu – Earth Dragon Projectile  
Fuuryuudan no Jutsu – Wind Dragon Projectile Technique (non-canon – created by author)  
Hiraishin no Jutsu – Flying Thunder God Technique  
Karyuudan no Jutsu – Fire Dragon Projectile Technique (non-canon – created by author and not to be mistaken for the dragon projectile attack with the same name that the Sandaime used in his fight against Orochimaru during the Chuunin Exam Arc)  
Meisai Gakure no Jutsu – Camouflage Concealment Technique  
Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu – Water Clone Technique  
Rairyuudan no Jutsu – Lightning Dragon Projectile Technique (non-canon – created by author)  
Rasengan – Spiral Sphere  
Shunshin no Jutsu – Body Flicker Technique  
Suiryuudan no Jutsu – Water Dragon Projectile Technique

* * *

**10-25-15:** _Minor edits made to chapter to fix spelling/grammar mistakes and removed unnecessary author's notes._


	17. Oath Bound

**Disclaimer:** _All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies and all Naruto characters are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites._

**Warnings:** _AU for parts of both worlds (i.e. kiss canon goodbye), mild character bashing, mild to moderate violence (there are shinobi involved after all), and a few others that will be announced as they crop up. _

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

**Chapter 17: Oath Bound**

_Tuesday, October 02, 2001, Morning  
Konohagakure no Sato, Hi no Kuni_

Hiruzen studied Namikaze Takeshi as the twenty-one year old man stepped into his office on the heels of AnBu Neko before his eyes slid to the often hyperactive blond that was practically glued to the man's side. Every single report he'd received from the AnBu guards assigned to shadow the Namikaze family consistently stated that all five members of the small family were a tight knit group but that the three youngest Namikaze males were exceptionally close. It was also said that Takeshi, who was clearly the head of the family despite him being slightly younger than Arata, was highly protective of both children.

The green eyed brunette had actually been called a mother bear with a tongue sharper than any blade on more than one occasion when the man had verbally lambasted any one foolish enough to insult the bewhiskered blond within range of the volatile man. Those that dared to sneer at the blond were treated to a mere glare that could easily topple mountains if the glare could be given physical form. The rest of the time the man was an affable individual that went out of his way to avoid conflicts and doted on his son and younger cousin.

He was also a rather perplexing puzzle that Hiruzen was having difficulty deciphering. That the man didn't really trust him enough to share anything beyond the basics didn't help Hiruzen get the answers he needed. Hiruzen set aside his ponderings on the mystery that was Namikaze Takeshi as the man in question stopped in front of his desk and greeted him, "Ohayou, Hokage-sama."

"Good morning, Takeshi-san, Naruto-kun," Hiruzen replied in kind. "I trust that you both know why you are here?"

"Hai, Neko-chan told us that you wanted to see us, dattebayo," Naruto answered as he rocked on his feet and grinned at him.

"I presume that you called us here to discuss your decision on whether or not the results of our recent assessments were adequate enough to merit our induction into the ranks of Konoha's shinobi force," Takeshi added after letting out a soft snort in response to Naruto's answer.

"Correct," Hiruzen agreed with a nod before he turned to address the younger boy. "Naruto, your test results showed a marked improvement across the board when compared to the test scores from your first two years at the Academy. I see no reason to send you back to the Academy when you already know the material; providing that you can demonstrate sufficient control over the three basic Academy jutsu for me right now."

Naruto's sapphire eyes lit up with excitement as he immediately traded places with a chair on the other side of the room before he cheekily switched back using Takeshi; causing the young man to let out a startled squawk. The kid then used a henge to make himself appear as Takeshi's double; completely accurate right down to the slightly annoyed scowl that the green-eyed man was wearing as he crossed the room to return to his earlier position. The blond then dropped the henge and bit his lip as his earlier excitement was replaced with a measure of worry.

"Do I have to do the regular Bunshin, jijii?" Naruto asked hesitantly after briefly glancing up at his cousin.

"The Bunshin is a graduation requirement," Hiruzen pointed out even as he felt his heart swell in response to the irreverent form of address the boy used since it let him know that Naruto stilled cared for him despite how angry he had been with him for withholding information from him.

"Naruto-kun has the same issues with the Academy level Bunshin that I do, Hokage-sama," Takeshi didn't hesitate to explain when Naruto's shoulders slumped in resignation.

Understanding filled the Sandaime as he considered a couple of potential ways to get around the Bunshin requirement before he recalled what Takeshi had told him the day the family arrived in the village about Naruto being able to perform the Kage Bunshin. Nodding to himself, Hiruzen suggested, "Why don't you show me what happens when you do the Bunshin no Jutsu so that I can note that you attempted the jutsu before you show me any alternate Bunshin forms you are capable of creating?"

Naruto's entire demeanor flipped around instantly and the tension in Takeshi's shoulders eased with the offered compromise and Hiruzen mentally patted himself on the back for avoiding a potential outburst from the overprotective young man. He then gave his full attention to Naruto as the blond formed the hand seals to create a pair of sickly looking clones that were pooled on the floor. The bewhiskered blond cringed over the deplorable state of the illusion clones before he glanced in Hiruzen's direction as if expecting to get yelled at for the failure.

"Yes, I recall Takeshi-san's regular Bunshin having a similar appearance the other day. Why don't you go ahead and dispel those and demonstrate an alternate variation of the Bunshin that you've learned."

Naruto sighed in relief before he quickly dispelled the two dying clones and created ten Kage Bunshin to take their place. Curious to see how durable the clones were, Hiruzen climbed to his feet and made his way around the desk to test the clones. He flicked a few noses, poked a few bellies, swept another off its feet, and jabbed the final one with the handle of his calligraphy brush. He was quite pleased to note that the ones he'd poked and flicked remained while the last two were dispelled.

"Well done, Naruto-kun; the clones were also far sturdier than I expected them to be for someone your age."

"Thanks, jijii."

Hiruzen made his way back to his seat, opened the top drawer of his desk, and pulled out a brand new hitai-ate and a shinobi registration packet that he set on the edge of his desk for Naruto to collect, "Congratulations, Genin; you've passed your graduation exam and earned your hitai-ate. You have until noon this Friday to complete your shinobi registration packet; if you do not have a recent photograph, you will need to see the photographer upstairs to have your picture taken before you turn in your packet."

"Yatta!"

"Good job, squirt," Takeshi murmured as he smiled at Naruto and ruffled his hair and though he appeared to be happy for Naruto, Hiruzen could see the pain and resignation in the man's green eyes and he knew that Takeshi hated the fact that the blond had just become a shinobi. Naruto appeared to be completely oblivious to his cousin's unhappy demeanor as the blond tackled the man around the waist and hugged him tightly before he beamed up at him when Takeshi readily hugged him in return.

"I hate to interrupt your celebration but I do need to wrap things up here as I have work to do," Hiruzen requested after allowing Naruto to bask in his cousin's affection for a few minutes. "Arigatou. After carefully reviewing the results of your physical evaluation, Takeshi-san; I have decided to approve your application to join the shinobi force." The Sandaime then dug into the top drawer of his desk again to grab another hitai-ate, registration packet, and a storage scroll that he set on the desk and slid in the direction of the man. "Allow me to be the first one to welcome you into the ranks of Konoha's shinobi force, Chuunin."

"The storage scroll I just gave you holds your new flack jacket, a standard shinobi field kit, and two vouchers each good for three sets of the standard shinobi uniform (one for you and one for Naruto) that you can redeem at any of the armories within Konoha. It is not mandatory that you wear the standard uniform except on certain occasions, a list of which has been provided for you in the rule book that can be found in your field kit. If you wish to obtain additional uniforms or need to replace a damaged uniform, you will need to purchase them yourself as uniform vouchers are only issued once every five years on the anniversary of your induction into the force."

"I have taken the liberty of scheduling you to take an academic assessment test tomorrow at the Academy; you will need to be in room two-eighty-three by eight o'clock. You will also have until noon this Friday to complete your shinobi registration packet and provide an up to date photo; the photographer upstairs is available from eight to four every day and since this is a slow time of year for him, you will not need to worry about making an appointment ahead of time. The two of you will then need to return to my office at one o'clock sharp this Friday to turn in your registration forms and swear your oaths before I can assign you to a team."

"Hai, Hokage-sama," Takeshi murmured in a flat tone at the same time as Naruto excitedly replied, "Hai, Hokage-jijii!"

Hiruzen dismissed the pair at that point and tracked them with his eyes as they left the room; the blond bouncing excitedly as he tried to convince his cousin to take him to Ichiraku's to celebrate while the raven haired man wearily placed one foot in front of the other. Watching the young man, Hiruzen had the impression that he was watching a condemned man walk to his death instead of a newly inducted shinobi leaving his superior's office. When Takeshi glanced back to meet the his gaze, Hiruzen found himself looking into frozen emerald eyes filled with barely suppressed fury coupled with hopeless resignation.

As the door to his office swung shut and blocked the sight Takeshi's green gaze, Hiruzen wondered if he'd just made a mistake. A glance down at the evaluation summary sitting in the middle of his desk and knew that he'd really had no choice; not if he wanted to keep the two Jinchuuriki and the Namikaze family in Konoha.

* * *

_Friday, October 05, 2001, Afternoon  
Konohagakure no Sato, Hi no Kuni_

Contrary to the Sandaime Hokage's assumption that he was entirely clueless, Naruto was very much aware of his cousin's conflicted feelings. Over the past two plus years, Naruto had learned to accurately gauge Harry's moods with uncanny accuracy whether or not his green eyed cousin tried to downplay or hide his emotions. As such, he'd known that Harry had been growing steadily tenser from the moment they stepped through the portal and that each step closer to Konoha had shortened the fuse on Harry's explosive temper.

The ambush they'd been caught up in so close to their destination hadn't helped matters, though it had allowed the man to burn off some of his frustration. Their treatment upon arriving in Konoha, which while not exactly rough had been enough out of the norm (when compared to how most of the other new arrivals were treated), had ignited the fuse. The Sandaime's attempt to split them up without so much as a by-your-leave had then triggered a spectacular explosion that had been building for weeks.

Naruto suspected that it had been ages since someone had chewed out the old man Hokage so thoroughly and Naruto had felt a rush of affection for his cousin that day as Harry verbally lit into the man on Naruto's behalf.

The remainder of the first week been relatively uneventful and calm; bar the day Harry had had his skills tested. Naruto only wished his itoko had not chased him off just when things were getting interesting. He would have loved to have watched the two hour long ninjutsu match that Harry had fought against one of the Jounin. Naruto was certain that his cousin had been awesome; proof of that had come when Harry had been given the rank of Chuunin the day the Hokage had given them their hitai-ate. Naruto had been tickled pink; his cousin was so awesome he'd skipped right over Genin and gone straight to Chuunin.

Naruto had wanted to crow his cousin's accomplishments to the world but had refrained from doing so because he'd sensed Harry's unhappiness from the moment Sarutobi had passed Naruto a hitai-ate. Naruto knew that his cousin was proud of him for passing his assessment tests and for acing the surprise graduation exam with no warning but he also knew that his cousin was not pleased that Naruto had essentially become a child soldier at age eleven. What made the blond Jinchuuriki love his cousin even more was the fact that Harry had done his very best to repress his dissatisfaction and just be happy for Naruto's sake.

If not for the fact that Naruto was so in tune with Harry's moods (something Naruto was half convinced had to do with the fact that they both had half of the Kyuubi inside of them along with Harry's magic), he would have been fooled by Harry's act.

All of that ran through Naruto's mind in the blink of an eye as he stepped through the door leading into the Hokage's office on Harry's heels once more. Naruto stepped up beside his cousin as the green eyed man slowed to a stop just in front of the Hokage's desk. His cousin then bowed respectfully to the Sandaime before taking two steps forward to pass the man both of their shinobi registration packets. A heartbeat later, Harry was once again standing silently beside him.

Naruto's eyes cut to his cousin as he again took in the crisp navy blue shinobi uniform that Harry had put on just before they'd left the wagons. The green flack jacket that denoted his rank as a Chuunin peeked out from under the black dragon hide cloak that Harry had rarely taken off since they'd set foot in the Elemental Nations. His pants were tucked into the dragon hide boots that he'd refused to give up; Harry stubbornly refused to even consider wearing the standard shinobi sandals. And his hitai-ate had been secured around the middle of his left thigh after he'd claimed that the metal plate irritated the faint scar on his forehead.

By comparison, Naruto wore the standard navy blue pants and shinobi sandals, a dark orange t-shirt over a mesh armor undershirt, a sturdy but lightweight navy blue jacket (that was currently unzipped), and his hitai-ate proudly tied around his forehead. He also had a shuriken holder strapped to his right thigh and a utility pouch clipped to the back of his pants; unlike Harry who carried his shuriken, kunai, and other supplies in specially designed hand-sewn pockets secreted about his cloak. Naruto planned to ask his cousin if he'd help him add similar pockets to his new jacket so that he could carry extra kunai and supplies that would be easily overlooked on casual inspection.

Naruto's attention was drawn back to the Hokage when the man finished skimming through the registration forms and glanced up to address them, "Everything appears to be in order; you can expect your shinobi Identification Cards to be ready in five to seven days and you can pick them up from my secretary. You will be required to keep your ID Cards on you at all times once you receive them and in the event that your card is lost, stolen, or damaged, you are to report it immediately to your immediate supervisor so that the missing or damaged card can be deactivated and a new card issued."

"Wakarimasu," Harry murmured while Naruto just waited for the old man to get to the important stuff; like telling him who his teammates were.

"That brings us to the next item on the agenda; your shinobi oaths. Who will give their oath first?"

"I will, jijii," Naruto stated when he felt Harry tense minutely beside him as the Hokage rose from his seat and walked around the desk to stand before the pair of them.

"Very well, Naruto-kun. Please repeat after me; I, state your full name, do hereby pledge my life and loyalty to Konohagakure no Sato."

"I, Namikaze Naruto, do hereby pledge my life and loyalty to Konohagakure no Sato."

"As a loyal Shinobi of the Leaf; I, state your name again, swear to uphold the laws of Konohagakure no Sato and obey my Hokage for so long as I wear the Leaf in the service of Konohagakure no Sato."

"As a loyal Shinobi of the Leaf; I, Namikaze Naruto, swear to uphold the laws of Konohagakure no Sato and obey my Hokage for so long as I wear the Leaf in the service of Konohagakure no Sato," Naruto obediently parroted as he tried not to turn to stare at his cousin in concern when he felt the man twitch slightly.

"Genin Namikaze, in my capacity as the Sandaime Hokage; I, Sarutobi Hiruzen, do hereby accept your oath of loyalty and obedience in the name of Konohagakure no Sato and officially welcome you as a true Shinobi of the Leaf," the Hokage intoned as he reached out with his right hand to touch Naruto's left temple.

The old man then channeled the smallest thread of chakra that sent a small jolt through Naruto's head before it shifted to his hitai-ate in order to activate the hidden seals in the metal plate that would announce his status as a sworn shinobi to the rest of the shinobi. A precautionary measure that had been implanted one year after his disappearance in order to prevent spies from infiltrating the ranks as easily as they had before due to an inactive hitai-ate sticking out like a sore thumb amongst a sea of activated forehead protectors.

"I live to serve, Hokage-sama," Naruto replied as his father's ghost had instructed him earlier that morning.

"I, Namikaze Takeshi, do hereby pledge my life and loyalty to Konohagakure no Sato," Harry stated without prompting the moment that the Hokage turned to face the dark haired man and Naruto shivered slightly as he felt his cousin's magic rise in response to his words; a feeling he only recognized due to the fact that he'd been living with the older man for two years. "As a loyal Shinobi of the Leaf; I, Namikaze Takeshi, swear to uphold the reasonable laws of Konohagakure no Sato and obey my Hokage so long as his or her orders are for the betterment of Konohagakure no Sato and will not cause undue harm, whether intentional or not, to the Namikaze Family for so long as I draw breath while wearing the Leaf in the service of Konohagakure no Sato."

"Chuunin Namikaze, in my capacity as the Sandaime Hokage; I, Sarutobi Hiruzen, do hereby accept your oath of loyalty and obedience in the name of Konohagakure no Sato and officially welcome you as a true Shinobi of the Leaf," the Hokage declared after a slight hesitation (a small frown marring his brow in response to Harry altering the words of the oath) as he reached out with his right hand to touch Harry's left temple in order to activate Harry's hitai-ate.

"_So mote it be,_" Harry incanted in English as he fisted his right hand, tapped his fist against his heart while he shifted his left arm across the small of his back, snapped his heels together, and straitened his shoulders. Naruto watched with wide eyes as an unseen wind fueled by Harry's magic suddenly whipped around him and tugged at his hair and cloak in response to his words before disappearing as quickly as it had appeared. Harry's emerald eyes burned brightly, the edges of his irises tinted gold, as he finished with, "I am yours to command, Hokage-sama."

"And can you tell me why you felt it necessary to alter the wording of the shinobi's traditional oath, Takeshi?"

"The original oath left far too much room for my oath to be abused, Hokage-sama," Harry replied as he dropped his arms and shoved his hands in his pockets. "I do not swear oaths lightly, Hokage-sama, for my word is far more binding than you could possibly imagine and the consequences that I will suffer should I break an oath that I have sworn would be crippling if they didn't outright kill me. Congratulations, Hokage-sama; you now hold the leash to a living weapon."

"Keshi-nii…?" Naruto worriedly murmured as he reached out to grab Harry's sleeve.

"Everything will be fine, Naruto; the changes that Minato helped me make to the oath will allow me enough wiggle room to breathe and that is all that matters," Harry replied gently as he glanced down to offer Naruto a small smile before pulling one hand free of his pockets so that he could comb his fingers through Naruto's hair. Naruto sighed softly as he leaned into the comforting touch and allowed himself to relax; he trusted Harry to be honest with him and if Harry said things would be fine then they would be fine.

"Can you please explain to me what you mean by that?" the Hokage inquired as he returned to his seat.

"My Kekkei Genkai allows me to make binding oaths that are virtually unbreakable and that is all that I am going to say on the matter. Please do not ask me for any more information regarding my Kekkei Genkai as I do not trust you enough to risk my family's health and safety by handing you information that could see my family dead or worse."

"I see," the Sandaime murmured in a tone that Naruto knew meant the old man would drop the subject for now but that he would be addressing it again at some point in the future. The Hokage then cleared his throat before he addressed Naruto in a solemn voice that made his heart clench in fear as the man stated, "Naruto, I'm afraid that I made a slight miscalculation when I attempted to place you on a team. Due to the timing of your graduation, there is a distinct lack of unassigned Genin with which to form a new team. After giving the matter a great deal of consideration, I decided that I would go ahead and assign you to a Jounin instructor anyway. I will assign an additional pair of Genin to your team in a couple of months from amongst the winter graduates."

"That's fine, jijii," Naruto breathed in sheer relief the moment the Hokage finished speaking; his fear of his hitai-ate being taken from him the moment the old man had said he had made a mistake had been unfounded.

"I'm glad you approve," the Hokage dryly countered though Naruto knew the old man was amused because the little wrinkles around his eyes were slightly more pronounced from the man's efforts not to grin. The Sandaime then grew serious once more as he turned his attention back to Harry, "I experienced a similar difficulty when I tried to choose your teammates, Takeshi-san; though it wasn't a lack of choices that was the problem. You're current skill levels are just far too imbalanced for me to insure that you are placed with individuals whose skills and abilities will compliment your strengths and compensate for your weaknesses."

"With that in mind, I have chosen instead to apprentice you to a Jounin who can devote his time and attention to helping you get the most out of your training. In eighteen months time, we can reevaluate your skill levels to determine whether or not you are ready to be placed in a Chuunin cell. That should also give you plenty of time to fill in the holes in your education, settle into your place here in the village, and become acquainted with your fellow shinobi."

"Wakarimasu, Hokage-sama," Harry murmured indifferently while Naruto scowled slightly as he felt his cousin had just been given the wrong end of the kunai and basically told that he wasn't good enough to be placed on a team.

"Do either of you have any questions? No…? Then let us introduce you to the two gentlemen that will be responsible for your continued growth and education as shinobi of Konoha as well as your immediate supervisors and commanding officers for the foreseeable future," the Hokage declared as he signaled to the two Jounin that must have been waiting just outside of the office; both men slipping in through the window instead of heading around to the door.

"Yo!" the masked Jounin with silver hair that had been part of the group testing Harry's skill at the end of the previous month offered with what Naruto thought might be a smile based on the way the man's one visible eye crinkled up.

"Konnichiwa," the other Jounin greeted with a smile as Naruto studied the unfamiliar man with open curiosity. The man had medium brown hair and dark eyes, wore the standard shinobi uniform with green flack jacket, and his hitai-ate was attached to a metal face plate type armor that was similar to what the Nidaime Hokage used to wear.

"I believe that you both know Hatake Kakashi, who has agreed to accept Naruto as his student," the Hokage announced a moment later as he gestured to the masked Jounin who gave the cousins a two fingered salute. "And with him is Jounin Yamato; who has agreed to mentor Takeshi for the next eighteen months. Gentlemen, please meet your new students; Namikaze Takeshi and Namikaze Naruto."

Naruto repressed the smirk he felt fighting to make itself known on his face; he knew exactly who Kakashi was thanks to all of the stories his father had told him over the past two years. Adopting an aggrieved air, Naruto complained, "Ah man, jijii, did you have to saddle me with a boring stick in the mud that does everything by the book, lacks a sense of humor, and has no appreciation for the fine art of pranking, dattebayo? I bet he hates ramen too."

The look of disbelief on Kakashi's masked face was priceless (despite the fact that it was hard to see) and Naruto could barely contain the giggles that were threatening to slip out. The fact that the Hokage was hiding his amusement beneath the shadows of his hat and Yamato was openly chuckling didn't help. What really made the small prank worthwhile though was the silent laughter shaking Harry's shoulders as Naruto knew that Harry knew that Naruto was aware that Kakashi had changed after the death of one of his teammates (Minato had told them that story more than once).

"I'm thinking laps… ten of them… yes, that sounds about right; ten laps on the top of the village wall," Kakashi deadpanned before he gave Naruto a humorless eye smile.

"See, no sense of humor, dattebayo!" Naruto wailed dramatically before he lost the fight against his amusement and burst into a flurry of giggles.

"I blame you for all of the headaches I just know are in my future, Hokage-sama," Kakashi huffed with suppressed amusement as he crossed his arms and pretended to glare at Naruto. "Alright, gaki; meet me at Training Ground Three in ten minutes so that I can evaluate your current skills."

"Hai, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto sighed as he reluctantly moved away from his cousin and headed towards the door.

"Go on, squirt; you can complain to me later tonight about just how unappreciative your sensei is when it comes to your uncanny ability to turn any situation into a stage for your next prank."

"You're the best itoko ever, Keshi-nii!" Naruto declared as he turned back to throw his arms around Harry's waist and hugged him tight before he dashed out the door in order to not get in trouble for being late.

* * *

_Friday, October 05, 2001, Afternoon  
Konohagakure no Sato, Hi no Kuni_

Yamato (aka AnBu Guard Panda, aka Mokuton no Tenzou) discreetly observed his apprentice as Kakashi slipped back out through the window and the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi (one Namikaze Naruto – and wasn't that just a sharp kick in the nads; the Yondaime had sealed the most powerful bijuu into his own son and the entire village had spat on Minato's living legacy) hug his cousin before darting out the door.

The man had dressed in a fresh-from-the-shelves shinobi uniform, a green flack jacket, a long black trench coat made from what almost looked like snakeskin, and sturdy black boots made from the same material as the coat. Strapped to his back, arms, and hips, the man wore no less than seven blades; a katana on his left hip, a broadsword on his right hip, a tanto at the small of his back, twin wakizashi blades crosswise across his back, and a pair of daggers strapped to his forearms. Lastly, the man wore his hitai-ate around the middle of his left thigh; an odd place to wear the symbol of his status as a shinobi.

Like Kakashi, Yamato had been one of the watchers assigned to shadow and observe the small family that had popped up from out of nowhere and claimed to be related to the Yondaime Hokage. Unlike Kakashi, Yamato had not been very close to Namikaze Minato and therefore had no emotional baggage to distract him from his job beyond his need to insure that the small family was not a threat to the village. Armed with what little information the Hokage and a handful of others had gathered during that first meeting with the family, Yamato had determined that the black haired, green eyed man potentially posed the greatest threat.

That was an assessment that all of the AnBu Guards assigned to watch over the family had agreed upon.

The twenty-ninth of September, the day that the Hokage had arranged to have Namikaze Takeshi's skills evaluated, had justified their assessment of his threat level when a number of them had witnessed the sheer level of destruction the man had wrought with a small handful of jutsu coupled with the sheer volume of chakra the man had thrown around like it was candy. It was also patently obvious that the man had only been half-trained; otherwise the damage would have been far worse. The damage the half-trained man had done to Training Ground Sixteen had been extensive. And Yamato knew exactly how bad it was because he had been the one responsible for repairing the field and growing new trees to replace those that had been destroyed.

When the Hokage had called Yamato to his office on the fourth, shortly after his shift of guard duty had ended, he had thought that he was just there to give the Sandaime an update on his observations. He was completely unprepared for Sarutobi to ask him if he'd be willing to take the green eyed man as an apprentice for the next eighteen months. He had questioned the Hokage's reasons for choosing him; Yamato believing that there were plenty of other Jounin that were more qualified to teach the man. The Hokage's answer had been to hand him the summary sheet from Namikaze's shinobi evaluation.

Yamato would learn why Sarutobi thought he was qualified to teach the other man when he finally reached the comment section at the very bottom of the summery.

_**Applicant:**__ Namikaze Takeshi  
**Age:**__ 21  
**Height:**__ 5'6"  
**Weight:**__ 170lbs  
**Kekkei Genkai:**__ Unnamed  
**Description:**__ Increased healing factor, ability to speak with/summon the spirits of the dead, potential ability to manipulate and combine multiple elements (examples include ice and lava), ?_

_**Stats – **_

_**Stamina:**__ 5.0  
**Speed:**__ 2.5  
**Force:**__ 2.0  
**Taijutsu:**__ 2.0  
**Ninjutsu:**__ 3.0  
**Genjutsu:**__ 0.0  
**Fuuinjutsu:**__ 2.5  
**Kenjutsu:**__ 4.0  
**Shurikenjutsu:**__ 2.5  
**Intelligence:**__ 4.5_

_**Total Ability:**__ 28.0/32.5 incl. LP, 2.8 average/3.25 incl. LP  
**Latent Potential (LP):**__ 4.5  
**Luck:**__ 5.0_

_**Chakra Rating:**__ Kage level reserves, Genin level control_

_**Skill Levels –  
Physical Condition:**__ Mid Genin  
**Weapons handling:**__ High Chuunin/Low Jounin  
**Battlefield Strategy:**__ High Jounin  
**Overall Ranking:**__ Chuunin_

_**Comments:**__ Applicant is a Jinchuuriki (bijuu: unknown), displayed an uncommonly high level of situational awareness on the battlefield, doesn't appear to know when to quit (excessively stubborn), showed a potentially unhealthy disregard for personal safety, demonstrated the ability to think on his feet, and easily adapted his strategies in order to counter his opponent's tactics. Applicant has a wealth of untapped potential that could be lost if he is not properly trained._

_Applicant also has serious trust issues with authority figures that could be a potential problem. Loyalty is to his family first and foremost and any attempts to manipulate his family in order to control him (most especially the children) will likely goad the applicant into attacking viciously. Any handler assigned to mentor the applicant is advised to proceed with caution when attempting to gain the applicant's trust and avoid withholding information or needlessly antagonizing the applicant's family if at all possible._

_**Recommendations:**__ Sarutobi – I seriously suggest that you don't stuff this up by taking a heavy handed approach to Namikaze's training and work schedule. Right now the young man is a relatively blank slate with explosive power at his command and with the right approach, you could end up with an emotionally stable Jinchuuriki that has the potential to match Kushina and Mito-sama's control over his bijuu (only with less power since the Kyuubi is already accounted for). _

_At the same time, a single mistake could turn him into a bloodthirsty psychopath that is somewhere between four and seven times more powerful than the unstable child host that currently holds the Ichibi (as the one, two, three, and eight tailed demons are all accounted for). That leaves numbers four through seven as the potential passenger that our young friend is carrying. ~ Shikaku_

Namikaze Takeshi was a Jinchuuriki.

As the only survivor of Orochimaru's failed attempts to integrate the cells of the Shodai Hokage into a living host and by some twist of fate he had also turned out to be the traitorous Sannin's only successful attempt at the experiment; Yamato was, perhaps, the only one qualified to train Namikaze Takeshi. As the forced inheritor of the Shodai's genetic material, Yamato had acquired the Shodai's vaunted Kekkei Genkai – the Mokuton. Alongside of the ability to manipulate plants (most notably trees) and transform his chakra into wood, Yamato had also inherited the Shodai's ability to subdue the bijuu.

Yamato was being asked to train Takeshi because he was the only one with the ability to stop the twenty-one year old if he should lose control and unleash the bijuu he carried. He could have theoretically taught Naruto for the same reasons and the only reason why he wasn't assigned to the younger Jinchuuriki was due to the fact that the kid was actually far less likely to snap at the moment. Well that and Sarutobi had long ago promised the training of the young Uzumaki (now Namikaze) over to Kakashi once he became a Genin.

Knowing that, any reservations that Yamato might have had about taking an apprentice that was only two years younger than him had vanished. He was honor bound to protect and serve the village and if training the young head of the new Namikaze family was what was required of him, then train him he would. The moment he had accepted, Sarutobi had assigned him a new code name (Yamato) and ordered him to show up on the ledge outside of the Hokage's office by no later than two o'clock that afternoon wearing standard shinobi gear so that he could be formally introduced to his new apprentice.

Pulling his attention back to the present, Yamato addressed his new apprentice, "I was fortunate enough to observe your physical evaluation last week and therefore won't need to drag you off for another assessment right now but I am interested in hearing an overview of your current training schedule. Do you have time right now to join me for a cup of tea and an order of dango?"

"So long as you don't mind if our chat takes place in a slightly less public locale than the dango stand, then I have plenty of time, Yamato-san… or I suppose I should say shishou, unless you'd prefer that I call you sensei?" Takeshi replied with an indifferent tone that morphed into confusion by the end of his sentence.

"Since we are rather close in age, you are welcome to address me as senpai or san; whichever you feel most comfortable with," Yamato replied after taking note how uncomfortable the younger man was in his uncertainty. "And it does not matter to me where we hold our discussion."

"That works for me; I have tack that needs to be cleaned and inspected for stress damage."

Yamato followed the younger and shorter man out through the door in a companionable if moderately tense silence.

* * *

**Translations:** Japanese to English

Jijii – grandfather/old man  
Konnichiwa – hello, good afternoon  
Ohayou/ohayou gozaimasu – good morning  
Wakarimasu – I understand (formal – present tense)  
Yatta – yeah/ I did it

* * *

**AN: **_I had received quite a few reviews and PMs with complaints about the oath that Harry swore the first time I posted this chapter. At the time, I had not expected so many people to have a problem with the rather open ended oath I had Harry swear since it wasn't all that constricting. For those who were displeased with the way the scene played out; please keep in mind that Harry is still rather bitter about bringing Naruto back to Konoha and his feelings colored the moment he gave his oath. That the scene had been written in Naruto's PoV also meant that Harry's thoughts and feelings were not really explored (and that was intentional). _

_As for why he swore the oath in the first place (if he was so bitter)? That will be explained within the story in chapter nineteen and it will come up again sometime after chapter thirty… not certain of the exact chapter number. I think there is also a glimpse of Harry's feelings on the matter during the Wave Arc but I can't recall which chapter that fell in or how much detail was given in it. I just know it was mentioned. ~ Jenn_

**10-25-15:** _Minor edits made to chapter to fix spelling/grammar mistakes and added an author's note._


	18. Survival Training

**Disclaimer:** _All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies and all Naruto characters are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites._

**Warnings:** _AU for parts of both worlds (i.e. kiss canon goodbye), mild character bashing, mild to moderate violence (there are shinobi involved after all), and a few others that will be announced as they crop up. _

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

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**Chapter 18: Survival Training**

_Saturday, October 06, 2001, All Day  
Training Ground 44, Konohagakure no Sato, Hi no Kuni_

"Welcome to Training Ground Forty-Four or as those who have dared to venture beyond the fence call it; the Forest of Death," Yamato declared in a dramatic voice as he gestured towards the thirty foot tall fence that separated the dark and foreboding forest from the rest of the world.

"Are there any soul-sucking demons, whose mere presence can suck the happiness out of an entire village, living in there?" Harry asked as he peered into the shadows beneath the trees and fondly (and in a few cases not so fondly) recalled his many adventures in the Forbidden Forest.

"Ano… no, no demons," Yamato awkwardly replied as the normally unflappable man faltered for a brief moment; the man obviously uncertain over whether or not Harry was being serious when he asked his question. "Just lots and lots of vicious man eating forest dwellers and deadly poisonous foliage."

"Sou desu ka?" Harry asked absently as he reached up to scratch his chin thoughtfully. "Sounds like there's nothing we really need to worry about then, ne?"

Yamato blinked at him in surprise (or possibly disbelief) before he shook his head and unlocked one of the forty-four gates through which most individuals accessed the interior of the dark and foreboding training ground. As Harry followed the slightly older man through the gate, he couldn't help but smirk; he bet the man had hoped to intimidate or shock him by revealing the alternate name of the forest and the fact that the denizens were known to attack humans. Too bad his new instructor slash minder apparently hadn't gotten the memo that deadly creatures and plants were pretty much old hat for Harry. After all of the adventures he'd gotten into though the years, Harry figured the Forest of Death would be a cake walk in comparison.

"Right, since the main objective here is for me to evaluate your survival skills, I'm going to be observing you from a distance for a time; though I will step in if at any time your life is in real danger and it becomes clear that you will be unable to deal with the threat," Yamato explained as he closed and locked the gate once they were both inside of the forest. "Do you have any questions?"

"Last night you mentioned something about a mission that we'd be completing while we were here; what are we supposed to be doing for that?" Harry inquired as he glanced upwards to take in the towering trees that were even larger than those that had lined the road that had brought him and his small family to Konoha.

"The mission itself is rather simple and straight forward; we're to clear out the trash from the river that cuts through the forest. The danger lies in the various creatures that we will inevitably run into while working and traveling."

"We have to clear the entire river?"

"No, we just have to clean the half of the river that runs south from the tower at the center of the forest. The mission to clear out the northern half of the river has been taken by another team."

"Ah, got it. I take it that means that we are not the only shinobi running wild through the forest?"

"That is correct, though it is doubtful that we will cross paths with any of the other Chuunin and Jounin that are currently training or completing a mission inside the Forest of Death. At least not until we reach the Tower at the center of the forest where we may or may not run into the team clearing the northern half of the river."

"Am I going to have to worry about any of those other teams 'attacking' me in order to test my survival skills?"

"No, interference in another's training is highly frowned upon and all joint training sessions will be announced prior to commencement so that everyone involved is fully aware of who they are supposed to be working alongside during the training exercise. If you are attacked by another human while we are in here, chances are the person is a traitor, a spy, or an assassin and I will intervene so that the person can be captured and sent to Ibiki for interrogation. Unfortunately, there's also a chance that you might run into other shinobi training and get caught up in their attack by accident, in which case I suggest you apologize and beat a hasty retreat."

"Joy," Harry murmured with a mildly sarcastic undertone that drew a smile from his companion… handler.

"Any other questions, Takeshi-san?"

"Are there any endangered creatures that I should avoid killing if at all possible?"

"No, the conservatory is on the other side of the village."

"Then I guess I'm good to go."

"This is where we part company for the time being then," Yamato stated as he jumped up into the branches of the nearest tree and quickly vanished from sight.

Harry stared at the place where the man had disappeared, almost one hundred percent certain that he'd just watched the man melt into the tree, before he shook his head and glanced around him once more. He then sighed and pursed his lips as he considered his options; head straight for the tower at the center, follow the fence line to find the river, or wander aimlessly through the forest until he encountered something deadly. Knowing that their mission involved clearing out the river, Harry eventually decided to follow the fence line; it was far more logical to clear the river by moving upstream because the trash would be shifted by the current (meaning that if they started upstream and worked downstream, more trash would be washed down behind them and make it seem like they hadn't done their job properly).

Course set, Harry drew his holly wand and cast the Point Me Spell to get his bearings before he turned to his left and began trotting alongside of the fence (the pair had entered on the easternmost side of the forest). As he moved, Harry periodically cast a pair of revealing spells in order to search his immediate surroundings (one to search for humans and the other to search for animals) to see if there was any one or any thing nearby that he'd need to be concerned about (there wasn't). He then created a pair of Kage Bunshin to act as forward scouts and another pair to act as rear guards (a trick he started utilizing after the bandits had ambushed their caravan).

Feeling better now that there was less of a chance of getting ambushed by one of the forest dwellers, Harry let his eyes scan his immediate surroundings as he steadily moved through the very edge of the forest. He took careful note of those plants he recognized as either being edible (or bearing edible fruit) or having medicinal properties and took the time to harvest them since he'd been instructed not to bring any food with him (he needed to prove that he could live off of the land, after all). Harry felt a little nostalgic as he traveled and worked; the entire exercise bringing to mind the year he'd spent on the run with Hermione and Ron while they hunted for the horcruxes and hid from the Death Eaters (only with far less fear and tension).

The wizard would encounter his first forest denizen during his second hour in the forest. The moment that he realized what it was he was seeing, Harry had stopped and stared at it with fascination; he'd never seen a ten foot long centipede before (though he had seen spiders as big as cars). His interest in the creature turned into grim resignation when the monstrosity finally noticed his presence and promptly attacked him. Not wishing to find out the hard way whether or not the thing was venomous, Harry drew his holly wand and killed the centipede with a well placed Severing Charm that sliced the creature in half vertically from head to the very last pair of legs.

The large spider that tried to drop on him from the trees above half an hour later was thrown back using a Banishing Charm and obliterated completely with an overpowered Blasting Curse. Harry loathed spiders with a passion (especially man-sized spiders intent upon having him for a snack) ever since the Acromantula in the Forbidden Forest had sided with Voldemort during the final battle at Hogwarts. The small, vicious wild boar he stumbled on was a bit more difficult to deal with due to how fast the one foot tall pig could move and Harry ended up sheathing his wand and drawing his broadsword to take the creature down. On the plus side, he wouldn't have to worry about catching something for lunch later.

Not long after he'd skinned, gutted, and butchered the wild boar, Harry finally reached the point where the river flowed through the fence some four and a half hours after he'd entered the forest. Knowing that it would be best not to camp right beside the river (because the wild animals would come to the river for water), Harry retreated several meters into the forest and looked for a small clearing to set up camp. While he was doing that, Harry sent his clones to scout the river in order to take note of the dangerous creatures currently in the area and determine just how much trash had collected in the riverbed.

An hour later, Harry had the wild boar wrapped up in a section of aluminum foil (from his supplies) lined with damp dock leaves alongside the wild onions, garlic, carrots, and nettles he'd harvested. The entire parcel was buried in the embers of his camp fire next to a smaller foil wrapped bundle holding several handfuls of wild chestnuts that he was roasting. The smells filling the small clearing were mouthwatering and Harry was eagerly looking forward to the meal. As he kept a close eye on his lunch (so it didn't burn), Harry occasionally wondered where his minder was hiding; he'd not once sensed the man near by and he'd never shown up when Harry scanned his surroundings for human presence.

The two reasons he was certain that the man was close by was because the man had said that he would be watching and because he'd often felt eyes on him throughout the course of the morning (above and beyond those eyes that he knew belonged to the creatures of the forest). That made Harry wonder if the man intended to hide and spy on him the entire time and that if that was the case, if it meant that he'd be required to complete their supposed mission all by himself. Before Harry could decide on how he felt about that possibility, Yamato turned up in the middle of his camp quite unexpectedly.

"You've had a very busy and productive morning," Yamato stated with a smile as he joined Harry by the fire.

"It's been rather relaxing too," Harry murmured as he used a stick to flip the packet of chestnuts over. "I don't usually get much time to myself because the children require so much of my attention; though Eri and Arata are always willing to lend a hand and Naruto is rather self-sufficient. I've also not really had much of a chance to relax since the day Arata contacted me with the news that we had a little cousin that appeared from out of nowhere quite unexpectedly."

"You are the first person that I have met that considers wandering through the Forest of Death a vacation. Not even Mitarashi Anko considers this place relaxing and this is her favorite training ground."

Harry snorted in amusement as he flipped the roasting boar meat and vegetable bundle next, "You've never had the pleasure of dealing with two hyperactive kids on a sugar rush while they were suffering from extreme boredom; have you?"

"No, I can't say that I have."

"Consider yourself lucky, Yamato-san; there is nothing more torturous than two rambunctious children bursting with more energy than they know what to do with and no active outlet in which to expend that energy."

"I'll keep that in mind if I ever decide to start a family or find myself watching someone else's child."

"Seeing as how you've essentially been assigned as my keeper for at least the next eighteen months, I'm sure you'll get the opportunity to experience it fairly soon since there will be days when you will spend time around Naruto and Satoshi. Anyway, it appears that lunch is finished and I made more than enough to share, if you want some."

As the two men eagerly dug into the roasted boar meat, Yamato lightly grilled Harry on his decision to follow the fence line instead of striking inwards. He also questioned Harry's decision to remain on the forest floor instead of taking to the trees in order to reduce his travel time. The Jounin was slightly surprised to learn that Harry didn't know how to travel through the treetops and Harry had to explain that where he was from there were fewer trees and most of them didn't grow big enough or close enough together to use them as an alternate path.

After the meal, Yamato had Harry break camp and remove all traces of their presence before they headed to the river in order to start the mission (Yamato had seen enough of Harry's skills over the course of the morning to know he could live off the land and defend himself from low level threats). Harry was then given a chance to demonstrate his grasp of water walking (which still wasn't as good as Naruto's and was no where near Yamato's level). At the same time, he was given a demonstration of Yamato's ability to manipulate both water and earth as the man dredged the bottom of the riverbed and had the water spit the trash out onto the shore.

That, of course, sparked Harry's competitive nature and he couldn't resist showing off a little as he summoned all of the lost and discarded weapons that had been dropped in the area using the Elder Wand. He caught half a dozen river trout near sunset for supper in the same manner. Yamato then showed off by growing a living net out of reeds that would prevent the current from dumping more trash in the portion they already cleared when he called an end to the day. All in all, the two of them managed to clear out the entire eastern fork of the river over the course of the afternoon and they set up a new camp for the evening beside the point where the river split.

While Yamato cooked the fish, Harry sorted through the junk they'd hauled from the river; separating out the trash from the recyclables and the weapons. Those weapons that were still in reasonably good condition were split between the two of them while those that were useless were set aside to be sold to one of the blacksmiths in the village so they could be repaired or melted down and recast. He then sealed everything into storage scrolls in order to make disposing of them (or recycling them) far easier.

Before they retired for the night, Yamato began teaching Harry how to move through the trees by growing a circle of two foot tall stumps that were three feet apart around the edge of the clearing and making Harry run laps around the clearing without letting his feet touch the ground. Yamato periodically encouraged Harry to pick up his pace by throwing a slue of shuriken at him once he got the hang of jumping from trunk to trunk. Halfway through the training, Yamato removed half of the stumps so that the remaining stumps were now six feet apart in order to get him to use his chakra to increase the distance he could cover with each jump.

By the time he crawled into his sleeping bag, Harry was tired and sore from the rather intense training session but feeling rather good about how easily he'd adapted to the new method of travel (though he'd still need lots of practice before he mastered the new form of travel).

He had exactly five hours of undisturbed sleep before the proximity wards he'd set up out of habit were tripped by the biggest damn bear he'd ever seen. The damn thing must have stood close to four times Harry's height as it reared up on its hind legs and roared out its anger at discovering a pair of trespassers in its domain. The Severing Charm that Harry cast at it only did enough damage to piss it off even more and Harry chose to retreat up the nearest tree to escape its claws and teeth because he had no desire to get close enough to stab the beast with his little swords. Unfortunately, the tree offered no respite as the bear simply cut it down with three slashes of its claws.

Harry cursed long and loud in both English and Japanese as he rode the tree down (too afraid to jump because he'd lost track of the damn bear – though how one could lose sight of a bear that large was a mystery). While that was happening, Yamato was attempting to contain the bear using his Mokuton but was not having much success due to the bear biting and clawing through the beams of wood he made almost as quickly as he grew them. Yamato's efforts had at least drawn the bear away from a rattled Harry before he staggered out of the remains of the shattered branches of the tree after it crashed into the ground.

Shaking off his disorientation, Harry ran up another tree in order to get above the bear and ran through the long chain of hand seals needed to send a Rairyuudan at the bear. The second the giant dragon of lightning poured forth from his hands, Harry whistled loudly to draw both Yamato's and the bear's attention (allowing Yamato to get out of the way without the bear chasing after him). Harry cursed under his breath when the bear walked away from the attack with nothing more than singed fur. From his left, he heard Yamato use a few rather inventive curses that he filed away for later use.

"What the hell is that damn thing? There's no way that's an ordinary bear," Harry muttered under his breath before he was forced to abandon his perch as the furious bear rushed the tree he was hiding.

In the end, it would take Yamato dropping the bear into a thirty foot deep hole that Harry filled to the top with water as Yamato grew hundreds of thick wooden beams to pin the bear at the bottom of the pit before Harry froze the water to kill the bear. Both men had then collapsed to the ground in exhaustion and pain; both of them sporting numerous bruises and gashes from what had ended up being an hour long battle.

"You know, Yamato-san; I don't think I like the spot you chose to set up camp," Harry wearily stated as he tore his gaze away from the frozen pit trap.

"In all of the years I've been training within this forest, this is the first time I've ever run into a bear that large. The bears here also usually not that hard to kill; your raiton attack **should** have killed it."

"Figures; that's the way my luck usually runs."

"That would have been useful information to have ahead of time," Yamato deadpanned as he turned to stare at Harry. He then wearily climbed to his feet as he asked, "I know I saw you take at least one hit; how serious are your injuries?"

"Mostly just bumps and bruises but I think he ripped open the back of my right calf," Harry replied as he took stock of his aches and pains. "What about you? How bad is your shoulder?"

"Still bleeding but it doesn't feel too deep. I suppose this will be an excellent time to evaluate your knowledge of emergency first aide."

Harry shot a disbelieving look at his Jounin trainer that the man either missed in the darkness or outright ignored. The wizard was then caught off guard as Yamato literally grew a small one room cabin in under five minutes. Now, he hadn't thought much about the man manipulating living plants, growing stumps, or even about creating animated beams of wood during the battle with the bear but he had not been prepared to see him grow an entire building. Sure, he'd heard about Senju Hashirama's ability to manipulate wood thanks to Minato's history lessons but he'd never imagined that it could be used to grow houses.

When Harry asked Yamato if he was related to the Shodai Hokage, he was more than a little surprised when the man grew extremely uncomfortable and denied any relationship to the Senju Clan. Despite being curious about how Yamato had ended up with a rare Kekkei Genkai if he wasn't related to the clan in which the Kekkei Genkai originated, Harry let the matter drop and apologized for prying. The uncomfortable moment eventually passed as Harry cleaned, treated, and bandaged Yamato's shoulder and his own leg; using a liberal amount of Essence of Dittany to speed up the healing process.

The rest of the night passed uneventfully as they slept safely inside of the homegrown cabin.

For the first time in over two years, Harry did not wake with the rising sun (not counting the small handful of days when he stayed up all night doing research). Yamato was already awake and cooking a late breakfast by the time Harry walked outside looking for the man. Harry's attention was immediately snagged by the carcass of the bear; which Yamato had hauled out of the pit after the ice had finished melting with the rising of the sun and propped up on a wood rack. The beast looked far larger in the light of day than it had the previous night when it had been half hidden in shadows.

"What are you going to do with that? Wouldn't it have been far easier to just bury it?" Harry asked when he finally tore his eyes from the bear and joined Yamato at the camp fire.

"Normally, I would skin and butcher any bears I kill because bear meat is considered a delicacy and since so few shinobi willingly tangle with the creatures it is something of a rarity. However, because of the difficulty we experienced with this particular specimen coupled with his extraordinary size, I will seal it into a scroll once its fur has dried and deliver it to the Nara after we finish our mission in order to have their researchers study him. If the animals in this forest are developing a measure of immunity against high level attacks, the Hokage will need to know so that any missions or training exercises that are scheduled to take place in the forest are ranked appropriately in order to avoiding loosing the younger and more inexperienced shinobi."

"Oh. Would you like me to dry him out for you?"

"If you want to, you're welcome to try but the last of the water will evaporate by lunch time."

Harry's response was to use his wand to banish the water clinging to the bear's fur with a 'wringing' spell that literally pushed the fur down flat to push the water out. He then cast a drying spell on the bear to pull the last of the moisture out of the fur before he turned to Yamato and asked, "Did you already have a storage scroll prepped to seal him in or would you like me to draw one for you?"

"Do you know how to link preservation seals to the storage seals in order to preserve the body?"

"Yes."

"Then I'll leave you to take care of the bear after we eat while I finish repairing the clearing."

"Alright," Harry replied as he dug into his inner pockets for a blank scroll, a quill, and his bottle of sealing ink (which had been infused with his and Naruto's chakra and blood as well as with his magic) so that he could prepare the scroll while Yamato finished cooking their meal.

By lunch time, the bear had been sealed away, the clearing completely repaired, their camp cleared away, and the temporary cabin un-grown. The two of them had then spent the rest of the day working their way north along the eastern bank of the river clearing out the trash as they went. Unlike the previous afternoon, there was little showing off as the two men cleared the debris from the water and removed large obstructions that were hindering the current. Periodically, Yamato would grow additional reed nets to catch trash so that if they missed anything, they could pick it up on their way out.

They did not stop working until the last rays of the sun had vanished. After another supper of freshly caught fish and an hour of stump jumping, Yamato had ordered Harry up into the trees to sleep in nothing but a tarp (another test as there were times when it was prudent not to make a camp when outside of the village on a mission). This time, the man was testing his ability to sleep in an awkward perch through the night while hiding his presence from the predators that would be stalking the forest below. Harry said not a word of complaint; he had no desire to face a second bear even if it might be smaller and easier to kill than the first one.

Both men were up and moving with the sun and breakfast (comprised of left over fish from the night before) was eaten cold and supplemented with fresh berries and fruit harvested from the forest as they worked. They would reach the tower in the center of the forest an hour before noon and briefly meet with the team that had taken the mission for the northern half of the river. The two of them then turned around and headed back down the river after crossing over to the western bank. This time, Yamato had Harry practice traveling through the tree tops while he traveled beneath the wizard in case he slipped from the branches or misjudged a jump.

They made good time (since there was very little work that needed to be done) and reached the fork in the river an hour before sunset. After they set up camp, Yamato sparred with Harry while there was still daylight left; the man correcting Harry's form and pointing out holes in his technique with the help of Minato and Kushina's spirits after the wizard had called forth the kunoichi upon Minato's suggestion. The Jounin surprisingly didn't blink an eye when Minato appeared shortly after Kushina's spirit stepped out of thin air; apparently, Yamato was rather fond of scary ghost stories and the proof that real ghosts existed appealed to him.

Their evening meal that night would be disrupted by another oversized creature; this one a snake that was slightly larger than the basilisk that Harry had killed when he was twelve. At the time, Harry had been skinning the pair of rabbits that Yamato had sent him out to hunt (well, he'd sent him to catch something other then fish) when the enormous reptile slithered up to their camp; the snake drawn to the scent of fresh blood. The giant reptile had approached the camp from behind Harry and he had felt his proximity ward being triggered at the same time as Yamato had jerked his head up from where he'd been starting the fire.

'**I smell blood… so close… so fresh… fresh blood mixed with the scent of humans… oh the scent of blood and human makes me so hungry…**'

Harry froze and closed his eyes as the snake's voice brought back so many of his darkest memories; the entirety of his second year, the vision of attacking Mr. Weasley as Nagini in his fifth, encountering Nagini masquerading as Bathilda Bagshot, and watching Nagini kill Snape to name the worst of the memories. White hot fury shot through Harry before the final memory finished playing out behind his mind's eye; he hated being forced to watch the more terrible memories of his past.

'**Go away, serpent; you will find no food here,**' Harry hissed through clenched teeth as he dropped the knife he'd been using to skin the rabbits and unsheathed his broadsword.

'**You are not our contract holder… you can not order me to do your bidding; even if you are a filthy speaker,**' the snake hissed in reply as it rose up behind Harry and prepared to strike.

'**If you attempt to attack me or my companion, then I will not hesitate to kill you. Leave now and I will allow you to live.**'

'**This forest belongs to the snakes and filthy speakers are unwelcome here. Manda will reward me for devouring you and ridding the world of another thieving human that has stolen our voice.**'

'**It's your funeral,**' Harry retorted as he clasped the hilt of the broadsword in both hands and thrust upwards at the same time as the snake opened its mouth and struck downwards to swallow him.

The sword slammed home through the snake's brain at the same time as the snake's mouth closed around Harry. The wizard gamely hung onto his sword as the snake thrashed around in death; his entrapment inside of the mouth actually saving him from being seriously injured; since he could have been crushed by the snake's death throws if he had been on the outside. Still, it was an experience that he could have done without as being roughly shaken about while covered in a combination of snake spit, venom, and blood was distinctly unpleasant.

When the snake finally fell still, Harry wrenched his sword free and stuck it through his belt to free his hands. He then crawled to the very front of the mouth and curled his shoulders forward as he stood up and forced the snake's mouth open so he could climb out. The four rows of snake teeth lining the roof of the snake's mouth between its fangs briefly caught on his cloak but thankfully did not slice through the thick dragon hide. A split second later, Yamato was giving him a hand as a long beam of wood grew from the man's finger and forced the snake's mouth all the way open in the blink of an eye so that Harry could step out.

"You know how I told you the other day that I didn't think I liked your chosen camping location, Yamato-san?" Harry asked as he wiped snake blood, venom, and spit from his face and spat out the bit that had gotten in his mouth while he was being thrown around. "Well, I've come to the conclusion that I bloody well hate the places you pick to set up camp."

"And I'm beginning to suspect that your luck rating was mistakenly inverted when Shikaku filled out your evaluation, Takeshi-san."

"Why…? Did he leave off the negative sign?" Harry quipped with a humorless laugh as he stared down at the mess that had been made of his clothes.

"Well, at least you can joke about it. Are you injured…?"

"Just my ego; stupid snake wouldn't leave when I told it to."

"You do know that any creature whose entire species is under a summoning contract will never obey anyone but their contract holders whether they are an actually summons or not, right? And how exactly did you ask it to leave? All I heard was a bunch of hissing."

Harry shifted uncomfortably as he disliked discussing the abilities that he'd gotten from being in close contact with Voldemort's horcrux for more than half of his life. In the end, he decided it was probably best to say something now before his ability was brought up in front of a large crowd that could turn on him (like when almost the entire school had turned against him in his second year).

Sighing, he pulled out his holly wand and began cleaning himself off (before the snake's blood, venom, or saliva ruined his cloak) as he quietly replied, "I have a secondary Kekkei Genkai that grants me the ability to speak to all snakes and serpents. Usually, it allows me to order or ask them to leave me alone or in the case of the three boomslangs that I brought with me, ask them to protect my valuables for me. Not all snakes like to be ordered about though and the one I just killed was actually upset that I could speak to it using the snake language."

"It's not an ability I was born with and I rarely ever use it because I don't like the memories associated with it but it has come in handy a time or two and saved my life on more than one occasion. And no, I wasn't aware that a summoning contract affected an entire class of creatures to the point where they only obeyed those that signed their contracts; Minato only covered the basics of summoning since there were no contracts available at the time and there were far more important things for me to learn."

"What a strange ability," Yamato mused. "Being associated with snakes here in Konoha is not a good thing though, due to the terrible things that Orochimaru has done. I will have to report the ability to the Hokage but I will at least keep it out of my written report so that the information will not spread to the wrong people."

"Thanks, I appreciate that and I figured that you'd have to tell the Hokage. I would have mentioned it myself but the ability carries the same stigma from where I grew up because another person with the same ability did a great many terrible things before he was stopped so I do my best to avoid bringing it up."

"How did you get the ability if you weren't born with it? If you don't mind me asking…"

"The other person I mentioned unintentionally gave me the ability the first time he tried to kill me."

The subject was dropped at that point as the two of them dealt with the enormous snake that was cluttering up their camp. Harry ended up skinning the giant snake when Yamato declared his intention to bury the carcass. He wasn't one for collecting trophies but the snake's skin was both light weight and strong enough to deflect kunai and shuriken (if not a sword) and would make a potentially suitable replacement cloak if his dragon hide cloak got ruined and he didn't feel like dealing with the hassle of owl ordering a new cloak without the benefit of trying it on for size before he shelled out that much money or making one himself (since dragon hide was notoriously difficult to work with due to its magic resistant nature).

The remainder of their time in the forest was blessedly uneventful and short as they finished clearing the western fork of the river shortly after three in the afternoon on the ninth.

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**Translations:** Japanese to English

Sou desu ka? – Is that right?

**Techniques/Skills:**

Rairyuudan no Jutsu – Lightning Dragon Projectile Technique (non-canon – created by author)

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**10-25-15:** _Minor edits made to chapter to fix spelling/grammar mistakes and removed unnecessary author's notes._


	19. Everlasting Impressions

**Disclaimer:** _All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies and all Naruto characters are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites._

**Warnings:** _AU for parts of both worlds (i.e. kiss canon goodbye), mild character bashing, mild to moderate violence (there are shinobi involved after all), foul language (Anko makes an appearance in this chapter), and a few others that will be announced as they crop up. _

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

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**Chapter 19: Everlasting Impressions**

_Wednesday, October 10, 2001, Night  
Konohagakure no Sato, Hi no Kuni_

Hatake Kakashi (aka AnBu Teichou Inu, Sharingan no Kakashi, Kopi Ninja no Kakashi, and genius son of the Konoha no Shiroi Kiba) eyed the glittering gold dragon of burning sparks that pranced boldly across the sky with curiosity before he dropped his gaze to study the young man that had unleashed the firework that created the magnificent creature. Namikaze Takeshi's attention was currently focused on the only two children in the group (allowing Kakashi to study the man without being caught in the act); specifically, the man was watching Uzumaki Naruto… or as he was now known, Namikaze Naruto.

The head of the Namikaze family was a walking contradiction in Kakashi's eyes. The man at first glance appeared like any other civilian until you noticed the way he carried himself. He was open and friendly at first appearance too, until you managed to piss him off. An angry Namikaze Takeshi was a man to be feared as he either glared you into submission or verbally cut you down with that sharp tongue of his. At least the only thing that seemed to trigger the man's temper was any threat or slight (whether real or imagined) that was directed at one of the two children; as far as Kakashi could tell, anyway.

The man's skills were another puzzle as he had demonstrated a fairly devastating array of offensive jutsu with only a small number of defensive jutsu thrown in. His ability to manipulate the elements was rather impressive even if his control over the various jutsu he used wasn't anything to write home about. That he had the chakra reserves to throw around over twenty of the elemental dragon attacks back to back and combine two or more of them into a single attack was enough to make the silver haired Jounin sweat bullets. He also appeared to have an affinity with the fire element that would make an Uchiha green with envy and because each attack (bar the Karyuudan no Jutsu he'd used) had been seal-less meant that it was impossible to copy them with the Sharingan.

The rest of the man's arsenal had been fairly low level; a competent grasp of the basic three (even if he couldn't use the basic Bunshin to save his life), a useful camouflage jutsu, a couple of elemental clones, a wide array of elemental whips and walls, and the ability to create elemental creatures that could attack. The most unsettling skills the man had demonstrated though (aside from the devastating dragon attacks) had been Minato's Rasengan and the Hiraishin no Jutsu. Kakashi hadn't thought that there was anyone alive aside from Genma and Raidou who could use the Hiraishin (they had been taught by the Yondaime and they could only use it if both of them plus one more fueled the jutsu).

And yet, Namikaze Takeshi had used Minato's signature jutsu with the same ease that Minato had once used it; though the man hadn't use Minato's tri-blade kunai, using instead pre-drawn paper tags that he'd scattered about the clearing just before demonstrating the jutsu. Of course, it probably helped that the green-eyed man had had a private tutor in the form of Minato-sensei's ghost; if what he'd heard was true and the man possessed the ability to speak to the dead. The silver haired Jounin hadn't actually seen the ghost of his sensei as of yet though.

Kakashi was drawn out of his musings as the man he'd been considering set about launching another firework into the sky; this one a huge red dragon that attacked the gold dragon that was still trotting about the sky. Kakashi did a double take at that; the first dragon should have dissipated immediately. He was further shocked when the two dragons exploded upon impact, creating hundreds of red and gold lions that scattered in every direction. There was no way in hell that those were normal fireworks. Fireworks did not scamper off across the sky as if they'd been given a life of their own.

_Then again_, Kakashi thought to himself. _Namikaze-san showed remarkable control over the elements during his demonstration; it wouldn't be too far fetched for him to have created those fireworks and imbued them with his chakra in order to get them to act that way. It also confirms that he has an affinity for fire. I wonder if Tenzou… no, I need to remember to call him Yamato now, has tested the man yet. I'll ask him later and offer him some chakra paper if he hasn't._

Kakashi then turned his attention to the sole Genin he'd been assigned to teach; Uzumaki Naruto, Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi, and consummate prankster. Well, he supposed that he should stop thinking of Naruto as an Uzumaki and start thinking of him as a Namikaze now that the boy's heritage was no longer a secret. Kakashi had met Naruto when he was three; the day that the Sandaime had assigned him and his AnBu team to guard the blond. The twenty-five year old still suspected that the assignment had been Sarutobi's way of preventing him from taking any more suicide missions and keeping him in the village where his many enemies couldn't get to him as easily.

At first, Kakashi had wanted to resent the reassignment. That had changed the first time he'd seen someone attack Minato and Kushina's precious son. Naruto had quickly become Kakashi's reason for living after that and he'd taken great pleasure in delivering those that dared attack Naruto or spoke of what they knew about the Kyuubi to Ibiki. He'd soon been told to leave the civilians alone though; the council had disapproved of AnBu shinobi harassing the civilians on Naruto's behalf. That hadn't stopped Kakashi from intervening when he could though, and he made it a point to be particularly vigilant during the evening hours when the drunken mobs formed if even the smallest glimpse of the blond was caught.

After five years of watching over the hyperactive blond, Kakashi had thought he'd known the kid well enough to know when he was up to something.

Sadly, Naruto had proved just how little Kakashi had known the kid when said kid had slipped out of the village on his watch using the Kage Bunshin of all things (at least that was what the Hokage had told him had happened after Sarutobi had finished interviewing the small family). When Naruto had first disappeared though, Kakashi had thought the kid had been kidnapped. And he'd been angry; angry at himself for not preventing someone from taking the kid, angry at the Hokage for not catching wind of the kidnapping before it happened, angry at the village for the way they had treated Naruto, and angry at the person who'd stolen his reason for living.

The only good thing that had come out of Naruto's vanishing act had been the Sandaime Hokage taking back control of the village. The purging that had followed had been long overdue and Kakashi had reveled in finally making some of the more persistent bullies pay for the way they had treated Naruto. Dealing with the members of the council had been even more satisfying. The fact that the purges hadn't produced a hale if somewhat terrified and tormented Naruto had only fueled Kakashi's anger and driven him towards depression. The only reason he hadn't returned to taking suicide missions at the end of the purging was because Sarutobi had refused to allow him throw his life away.

It had been sheer coincidence that Kakashi had been patrolling the walls near the western gate when Namikaze Takeshi had made his appearance. Kakashi had been so certain that the man was an imposter but he'd nearly forgotten all about the black haired man claiming to be part of Minato's family when Naruto stepped down out of the first wagon carrying a three year old that was a near clone of the older boy. Despite Naruto looking slightly different and obviously being three years older, Kakashi had recognized him and his scent easily enough.

Kakashi had been torn between hugging the stuffing out of his little lost charge and ripping the man that had dared call himself a Namikaze into itty bitty pieces.

The Jounin had looked forward to carting the man off for an appointment with Ibiki after the man had threatened him with bodily harm in response to the Hokage's order for Kakashi to remove the children from the office. He had then reassessed his opinion of the man after listening to the man rip into the Hokage next. Kakashi had momentarily been reminded of the day that Minato had torn into a civilian for making a disparaging remark about Kakashi's father to Kakashi shortly after his father had killed himself. Even the sheepish apology the man had given after his small rant had been rather similar to the way Minato used to apologize to Kushina when his sensei had irritated his volatile wife.

All thoughts of Namikaze Takeshi had taken a back seat during the three hours he'd spent entertaining Naruto and Namikaze's little boy. It reassured him to know that his little charge (Kakashi couldn't bring himself to call Naruto his little brother even if that was how he saw him) was still the ramen obsessed little boy he'd watched over for five years. The only thing out of place was the blond haired and green eyed boy that Naruto treated like a sibling. Seeing Naruto act all responsible had thrown Kakashi for a real loop because it wasn't something he'd ever thought the hyperactive blond would be capable of until he reached at least his thirties.

That the two boys were close was undeniably obvious; the little blond had clung to the older blond with a limpet-like tenacity that the older blond encouraged. That Naruto was also painfully close to Takeshi had also become obvious as the kid had ceaselessly expounded upon how awesome his cousin was for nearly the entire time they'd been at Ichiraku's eating ramen. Kakashi had wanted to hate Takeshi in that moment; the Jounin angry that the man had stepped in and taken the place that should have been his.

Being asked to take Naruto (and two others to be assigned at a later date) as his student (something he'd been promised shortly after being reassigned to watch over the blond eight years earlier) had tempered that resentment; as had the sheer destruction that Takeshi had unleashed on the training grounds during his physical assessment.

Now, Kakashi had been well acquainted with Naruto's Academy records and knew that half the problem was that the kid had been kicked out of classes and denied a proper education and the other half of the problem had been the kid's inability to sit still for more than two minutes at a time. That the kid had aced all of the assessment tests (both written and physical) had therefore come as a bit of a surprise but not completely unexpected because he'd known the kid wasn't stupid (how else could he have pulled off some of his more memorable pranks and escape capture for hours?). Even knowing that had not prepared Kakashi for facing the blond in a one on one spar.

Not only was Naruto a chakra powerhouse just like his older cousin, the little gaki had to be one of the most unorthodox shinobi he'd ever fought. The kid could plot and plan on a dime better than any Nara, he could throw his weight around like an Akimichi, and by using the Kage Bunshin he could see just as well as any Hyuuga. His taijutsu form was no where near as sloppy as it had been while he'd been attending the Academy and Kakashi could easily see the influence of the Mizuken Ryuu in his moves; though the kid was no where near as fluid as his cousin was when it came to using that particular taijutsu form – the kid was still too much of a brawler.

But the kid had improved by leaps and bounds during the three years he'd been gone. He'd also learned more than just the basic three Academy jutsu on top of teaching himself the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. Seeing a not-quite eleven year old boy effortlessly form the Rasengan had been shocking. Seeing said kid then vanish in a familiar zing of yellow light had nearly broken Kakashi. The kid was no where near as proficient with the transportation jutsu as his cousin had been, but there was no mistaking that someone (Minato's ghost…? His cousin…?) had taught the kid how to use the Hiraishin.

Kakashi had wanted to cry at the time because it seemed as if someone else had done all of the work to turn the kid into a competent shinobi. He then realized that he'd actually been given a blessing in disguise because he could now hone the little prodigy of hard work into a legend. Sure, the little gaki was powerful, smart, and skilled… but he was also sloppy, unrefined, and filled to the brim with untapped potential. And he was all Kakashi's to teach, train, and mold.

Providing his cousin didn't try to interfere.

Yeah, that put a damper on Kakashi's dreams of training the next great legendary shinobi of Konoha. Kakashi had no doubt that Takeshi wouldn't hesitate to follow through with his threat of skinning him alive and roasting him over an open fire if the man even suspected that Kakashi wasn't keeping Naruto's best interests in mind. And somehow, he just knew that pushing Naruto too far or too fast would set the green-eyed man off nearly as quickly as neglecting Naruto's training and education would. So, he'd have to be cautious in how he went about training his cute little student.

_Maybe I should speak to Takeshi about Naruto's training,_ Kakashi silently mused as he tore his eyes from the blond who was enjoying his private firework show (Takeshi had gone all out for the kid's eleventh birthday) to glance at the dark haired man once more. _I'm actually rather surprised that the man hasn't hauled me to one side and grilled me in regards to Naruto's training yet. It goes against everything I've learned about the man. Then again, Ten… Yamato had hauled him off to the Forest of Death for survival training and they didn't get back until late yesterday afternoon. I wonder how Takeshi fared and if they encountered any of the nastier residents of the forest while they were there._

* * *

_Tuesday, October 23, 2001, Noon  
Konohagakure no Sato, Hi no Kuni_

Tokubetsu Jounin Mitarashi Anko (aka that Crazy Snake Bitch) sat fuming as she glared at the rotting carcasses of the four snakes that had just fifteen minutes earlier been part of the Senei Jashu she'd attempted to attack Namikaze Takeshi with when the man had gotten mouthy with her.

Anko had been out of the village on an A Ranked mission when the Namikaze family had arrived towards the end of September and had therefore missed most of the hullabaloo. By the time she and her team had returned, Takeshi-teme had already been inducted into the force and sent off into her personal playground for survival training. Anko had looked forward to the brutal ribbing the foreign Chuunin would undoubtedly receive the moment he had to be carried out of the Forest of Death in a blubbering mess. Few people could walk into her favorite training grounds without suffering from a traumatic experience and she expected the rookie to be no different.

When she'd heard that the teme had killed one of her former sensei's pet projects, she'd been shocked to the core because she well knew how damned hard those monstrous experiments were to kill; and she had the scars from a pair of enraged tigers to prove it. Disbelief had followed in the wake of her shock as there was no way a Chuunin could have killed one of the genetically enhanced bears, even with the help of his assigned minder. Anko had immediately hunted down Tenzou to confront him on the matter and had found him discussing the creature in question with Nara Shikaku.

Tenzou (who was going by the name of Yama or something like that now) had given her a harassed look the moment she'd demanded to know about the bear (apparently quite a few people had been hounding the Jounin on the same subject). Shikaku had lazily confirmed that the bear in question was indeed one of Orochimaru's left over experiments that had been left to run wild in the forest and that it had been the largest bear he'd ever seen that wasn't a contracted summons. One of the bear's smallest claws fit from the tips of her fingers to the crook of her elbow when she'd measured the trophy once Shikaku had pulled it out as proof.

Anko hadn't known what to say after that as she tried to imagine just how large the creature must have been in relation to the size of the claw and the only words echoing around in her head at the time had been 'holy fuck'.

Just before Tenzou (damned if she could remember his new code name just then) left, Anko had asked him if his charge had faced any other interesting encounters with the numerous critters while in the forest. The man had laughed and asked her if killing one of the giant snakes that lived in the deadly forest with nothing but a sword while inside of the creature's mouth counted. Anko had imperiously ordered Tenzou to bring his new 'toy' to the dango stand that afternoon so that she could meet him and the man had the gall to say that she'd have to wait until he could arrange the meeting with his apprentice so as not to create a conflict with the man's training schedule.

The kunoichi had nearly ripped Tenzou a new one over that until he bluntly told her that the man was related to the Yondaime, had a nasty temper, knew enough destructive techniques to level Konoha, and had more than enough chakra to pull off said destruction in a fairly short amount of time. The fact that Tenzou had also bluntly stated that he would not have been able to kill the bear without the younger (and lower ranked) man's help also spoke volumes. Anko knew there was quite a bit that Tenzou wasn't telling because there were plenty of other powerful shinobi you'd be an idiot to piss off; such as Senju Tsunade, Yamaguchi Jiraiya, Sarutobi Hiruzen, Hatake Kakashi, Maito Gai, Tenzou, and Anko herself just to name few.

Staring the remains of the four snakes she'd summoned to attack the greened eyed Chuunin had Anko reluctantly adding Namikaze Takeshi to that list in order to make certain she didn't forget before she returned to her seething.

The meeting had taken far too many days to schedule in Anko's mind and that was with the purple haired kunoichi pestering Tenzou (damned if she was going to bother learning the man's new code named – it was too much work) every other day. To appease herself, Anko had flat out told Tenzou that he was paying for her dango order when her fellow shinobi finally gave her a date and time. Tenzou had given her one of his famous dead-eyed glares that made most Chuunin shit their shorts but Anko ignored the look as she walked away.

The entire meeting had been one frustrating failure from the moment Tenzou had walked into the shade of the dango stand with his charge in tow… along with a pair of gaki. There was nothing Anko hated more than snot nosed little brats and the man she was supposed to be meeting was dragging along two of them; one that didn't even look old enough to wipe his own ass and the other cockily wore a shiny new hitai-ate. The moment she'd recognized the older gaki, Anko had reflexively glared; Uzumaki Naruto's disappearance three years earlier had seen the Hokage turning Konoha inside out and upside down to find him while her own disappearance just eleven years prior to the gaki's vanishing act had been completely overlooked.

Ice cold eyes the color of leaves met Anko's pupil-less tan eyes a heartbeat later and she'd nearly pissed her panties at the pure venom those eyes held. The man had then very pointedly handed the bewhiskered blond a pouch of money, asked him to buy a couple of orders of dango to go, and then told him to take the younger boy (whose name Anko didn't bother to catch) back to the wagons. Tenzou had grimaced at the man's clipped tone and shot Anko an irritated glare but she didn't see what had either man up in arms because it's not like she'd done anything to either gaki.

Tenzou had then warily led the man to her table and introduced the two of them. Namikaze had then had the gall to sneer at her as he looked her up and down once before he started walking away. When Anko ordered him to get his ass back to her table and sit down so she could talk to him, the man had had the gall to give her another sneer as he proclaimed that he had no interest in hearing anything she had to say. Only he'd used far sharper words that had cut Anko deeply.

Those words seared through her mind once more at that point; '_I have nothing to say to you and I am not interested in hearing anything you have to say. To put it bluntly, Mitarashi-san; you are not worth my time._'

Anko had trembled and clenched her fists as killing intent had poured from her in waves and chased away the civilian customers that had been inside of the small stand. She'd immediately retaliated in response to the man's caustic words by attacking him with Senei Jashu so she could beat the arrogance out of the bastard before she made him bleed. Only, the man had merely turned his head to the side and _hissed_ at her.

And the damn snakes she'd sent to attack him stopped right in their tracks and hissed angrily back at the man.

Another long hiss from the man had irritated the four snakes into continuing their attack. Two seconds later, the four snakes were dead before they could bite the man, let alone wrap him in their deadly embrace. Anko had then found the bloodied tip of an unfamiliar sword tickling her throat and burning emerald eyes glaring at her from the other end of the blade. The words the man had hissed out in an icy cold voice filled with barely suppressed fury and hard as diamonds actually made Anko piss herself.

'_Congratulations, Mitarashi-san, you've just jumped right up to the top of my shit list; you made my son cry._'

Sure enough, standing just a few feet beyond the highly pissed off Chuunin was Uzumaki holding a bawling kid in his arms; a ruined order of freshly made dango tragically sitting on the floor at their feet. Uzumaki was glaring at her with frozen sapphire eyes that promised pain and humiliation while the little gaki in his arms was white as a sheet (literally… his eyes, skin, and hair were all a uniform white – wait, wasn't he blond earlier…?) and stared at her with tormented eyes that rained tears down his face to join the snot running from his nose. The bite of the blade at her neck followed by a trickle of blood dripping down her throat had brought her gaze back to the man standing right in front of her.

'_Come anywhere near me or my family again and I __**will**__ make you scream and beg for death for a month of Sundays as I scrape the flesh from your bones with a rusty spoon and feed it to you while I allow __**my **__pet snakes to sharpen their fangs on your bones._'

The man had then pulled his blade away, cleaned the blood from it by wiping it off on her trench coat, and resheathed the blade before he turned his back to her once more. Anko had made just one attempt to rise from her seat only for Tenzou to shove her back into place with an iron grip. Unable to kill the man that had just insulted and attacked her, Anko had silently seethed as she watched the man approach the children and collect the bellyaching babe (who now looked like a carbon copy of the man – black hair and all). He had then formed a silent and seal less Kage Bunshin to clean up the mess from the floor and order a replacement batch of dango before he swept out of the stand with both brats without another glance in Anko's direction.

Tenzou had called her ten kinds of fools for pissing Namikaze off, told her she could pay for her own damned dango, and hurried off after the trio in order to do damage control; leaving Anko to seethe alone.

The kunoichi was far too busy still seething to notice the two masked shinobi that appeared beside her just a few seconds after she'd chased away the dango stand's civilian customers a second time. She couldn't help but notice them when they slapped a chakra suppression seal on the back of her neck and cuffed her hands behind her back. She opened her mouth to soundly curse the two AnBu guards only to find herself with an obscene amount of dango being stuffed into her mouth (far too much to chew, let alone talk around). As they hauled her off to see either Ibiki or Hokage, there was only one thought circling through her mind.

Namikaze Takeshi would scream for her before she killed him as slowly and painfully as possible for daring to humiliate and threaten her; her injured pride drowning out her common sense as she buried the memory of the way the man had made her piss herself with just a glare.

* * *

_Friday, October 26, 2001, Morning  
Konohagakure no Sato, Hi no Kuni_

Morino Ibiki had never been considered much of a people person, especially not after he'd spent an unpleasant week at the mercy of Iwa's top torturers during the last war and he grew even colder after his little brother had been killed by a traitor several years earlier. He was a large and intimidating man; it was an image that he had cultivated from the moment that he'd known that he would survive the torture he'd suffered through at the hands of the Iwa shinobi. He was proud of his image; he could walk into a room and make lesser shinobi piss their pants with just a look.

Inoichi, on the other hand, was insidious; the man seemingly made friends with everyone before he ripped their secrets from their mind with his clan's techniques.

The two of them had the perfect interrogation routine; Ibiki would intimidate their prisoners and Inoichi would move in and sooth them before making his move. It never failed to work like a charm. At least it hadn't until the two of them had met one Namikaze Takeshi. The man had the balls to look him in the eye and all but dismiss him as insignificant before he'd practically given Inoichi the stink-eye; as if the man had just seen Inoichi kick an injured puppy. The man hadn't even flinched when Ibiki had been introduced as head of the Torture and Interrogation Department.

The meeting had turned surreal at that point as Minato's ghost made an appearance. Being adept at genjutsu himself, Ibiki had been certain that the green-eyed gaki was just pulling one over on them right up until the gaki had stopped channeling chakra and Minato's ghost hadn't so much as wavered. Finding out that that really had been Minato's ghost standing there in the flesh… or rather in the spirit had been shocking. Learning that the supposed Namikaze had a Kekkei Genkai that allowed him to speak with the dead had been both troubling and intriguing.

Hearing the ghost of the Yondaime Hokage casually reveal that the young man standing in front of them was playing host to one of the bijuu had been terrifying.

The longer Ibiki had interrogated the young man alongside of Inoichi and the Hokage, the more frightened the intimidating man had grown as it became patently clear that the man was more than a little mentally unstable with a hair-trigger temper. Coupling that instability with the fact that the man was a Jinchuuriki with insanely high chakra reserves was enough to give a Kage nightmares; let alone the lowly departmental head in charge of the least appreciated department in the entire village.

The calm acceptance that Namikaze had shown when he'd basically been ordered to attend monthly therapy sessions had been unexpected and Ibiki didn't know whether or not he should be annoyed over the fact that he would be the one responsible for conducting said sessions. Damn it, he was an interrogator; not a therapist! Ibiki had fully intended to point that out to the Hokage the moment the man had uttered that nonsense and remind the aging shinobi that Inoichi or one of the other Yamanaka in his department always handled the mentally disturbed right up until he saw the visible relief in Namikaze's eyes over the fact that he'd not have to see Inoichi for the sessions.

That had actually intrigued Ibiki; he was burning with curiosity to know exactly what it was about Inoichi that set the younger man on edge. He also hadn't failed to notice that the man had only grown warier the moment Minato's ghost had brought up the Yamanaka's ability to mind-walk and view people's memories. That knowledge had opened a whole new can of worms as the possibility that the man had something he wanted to hide wasn't too far fetched. The fact that he couldn't bring Inoichi in to pry those secrets from the man's head was enough to give Ibiki a headache and what made it worse was the fact that the man had bluntly told them that he didn't trust any one of them.

Namikaze's lack of trust was troubling enough on its own but when coupled with the man's volatile temper and the sheer power he had at his fingertips, it was downright disturbing. And there was no doubt that the gaki was powerful.

Ibiki had left Inoichi in charge of things on the day that Namikaze's physical assessment was scheduled just so that he could take the morning off to see what the man could do. All morning had unexpectedly turned into all day. Namikaze's taijutsu wasn't anything special and saying he sucked when it came to shurikenjutsu would be an understatement; unless you counted the fact that the damn man had caught every single kunai, blocked the thrown shuriken, and dodged the senbon that Genma had thrown at the man all the while grinning like a loon.

His kenjutsu was passable; so long as he was using the twin wakizashi blades or his unorthodox broadsword. That he'd apparently trained his horses to ignore the clashing blade to allow him to fight from the back of the beasts was rather fascinating. The concept of a mounted shinobi was beyond weird though; shinobi were trained to move through any terrain on foot, they had no need for horses or oxen. And yet, Namikaze had looked completely at home on the back of his horses swinging that straight sword with one hand while guiding his horse with his other hand and his knees.

Those three skills hadn't been what he'd gone to see though. No, Ibiki had wanted to see just how much damage the man could do with the pool of chakra he had on hand. Ibiki shivered as he recalled the sheer level of destruction Namikaze had unleashed; and that was just in his initial demonstration. The two hour spar after lunch had been brutal. Oh, neither man fighting had truly attempted to kill one another, but neither had they held anything back. And while Namikaze had been on the defensive nearly the entire spar, he had managed to turn the tables on Kakashi more than once.

Namikaze had then amused Ibiki by acting like a petulant toddler when he'd kicked the younger man off of the training field so that the area could be repaired. He'd also discovered that the man had a snarky sense of humor that Ibiki could appreciate; something that he probably would have noted sooner if he'd spent time observing the young man outside of the Hokage's office.

After Namikaze had been inducted into the forces as a Chuunin, Ibiki had occasionally lamented on the fact that he was stuck behind a desk eighty percent of the time doing paperwork as he would have liked to have the time to observe the young man from time to time. Instead, Ibiki had to be content with reading through an endless stack of mission and training reports that were filed on a weekly basis. Some of those reports had been amusing and others had the twenty-six year old Jounin shaking his head.

The most memorable report had been the one from Namikaze's first mission slash survival training exercise that had taken place within Training Ground Forty-Four. The Chuunin and his Jounin mentor had had the misfortune to cross paths with one of Orochimaru's forgotten experiments; in this case it had been a genetically enhanced bear that had been larger, stronger, and far more aggressive than the normal bears found in the forest. That was on top of dealing with more than a few of the forest's other denizens attacking the pair (such as one of the giant snakes that made their home in the forest).

The amusing part had been the fact that Namikaze had accused his mentor of having poor taste when it came to choosing camp locations in his report while Yamato's report had claimed Namikaze's luck rating had been incorrectly marked on his stat summary.

The most horrifying report had been the one where Yamato had made a note stating that Namikaze had negotiated an agreement with Madam Shijimi (the wife of Hi no Kuni's Daimyou) to pair Tora (the woman's demonic cat) with one of his cats. The man had apparently been impressed with the scourge of Genin everywhere when he'd been assigned the retrieve Tora mission to test his ability to track and capture a target. The insane man had even gone so far as to befriend the damn thing. Madam Shijimi had been so impressed with the flattery that Namikaze had rained on her precious terror that she had even promised the man the pick of the litter once the kittens were born.

When Ibiki had seen a photo of Namikaze's pet cats, he'd nearly let out a wail of terror as the damn things looked more like miniature lions than house cats and their eyes glittered with intelligence and malice. The damn dogs the family owned were far worse than the trained Inuzuka hounds and the rotten mongrels could easily be classified as glorified slippers with feet, they were so small. Both the damn chibi-lions and the menacing mutts were foul tempered and would attack anyone that trespassed on the vacant lot the Namikazes had commandeered for their wagons and horses until they purchased a permanent residence.

That didn't even touch upon the incident with Mitarashi Anko just three days earlier…

"I have my work cut out for me," Ibiki bemoaned to his empty office as he glanced up at the time to see that he only had about five minutes left until the young man he'd just been analyzing was due to arrive for his first appointment. As if his spoken complaint was some kind of signal, Hijiri Shimon knocked on the door before he ushered an early Namikaze Takeshi into his office. Ibiki bit back the curse that was on the tip of his tongue and stated, "Arigatou, Hijiri; please see to it that I am not disturbed over the next hour for anything short of an invasion. Ohayou, Namikaze-san; please have a seat so that we can begin."

"Ohayou gozaimasu, Morino-san," Takeshi greeted in return as he reluctantly took a seat in the chair that was sitting right in front of Ibiki's desk.

"I'm going to be blunt, Namikaze; I don't do therapy sessions. My job is to break Konoha's enemies and make them sing like canaries; not put broken shinobi back together just enough so that they can function in polite society. That's usually Inoichi's job but for some inexplicable reason you seem to have a problem with my subordinate."

"I do not have a problem with Yamanaka-san," Takeshi countered with a slight frown. "I do, however, have an issue with people that make it a habit of going traipsing through other people's minds." The younger man's jaw tightened and Ibiki saw a hard glint enter the man's emerald orbs as he paused for the briefest of moments. "I've had enough of people tearing through my mind and my memories to last me a lifetime. It's bad enough that I'll eventually have to share my mind with the furball I'm lugging around without having someone ruffle through my worst memories again."

"What do you mean eventually; do you not already share your mind with the bijuu you carry?" Ibiki inquired with open curiosity as he'd fully expected the bijuu to be influencing (or attempting to influence) its host.

"The creature sleeps… for now. Apparently, the process of sealing the furball inside of me took just as much out of the demon as it took as much out of it as it took out of me and it hadn't exactly been vacationing at a five star resort before it ended up where it is now. Minato figures that I'll have at least another three to four years before the furred menace wakes from its slumber to annoy me unless something disturbs it from its nap sooner."

"Interesting. How much influence do you believe the bijuu will have over you once it awakens?"

"Very little. The Ky… creature knows next to nothing about my life since it has been asleep for the past two years and I'd like to think that I'm mature enough to have outgrown the majority of my insecurities. There is also nothing that it could possibly offer me in order to gain my cooperation; I have no need or desire for more power, any enemies that I might have sought out in order to get revenge are already dead or securely imprisoned, and I am content with my lot in life, if not exactly happy."

"Why aren't you happy?" Ibiki asked even as his mind began turning over the slight slip of the tongue that Namikaze had made in reference to the beast that had been sealed inside of him in an effort to determine which bijuu the man held based up that tiny little clue.

"Why should I be happy? I was forced to drag my itoko back to the one place he never wanted to see again. I can't say as I blame him either; I know exactly what it's like to be forced to live with people that hate you and aren't afraid to let you know just how worthless and unwanted you are. This blasted village, as a whole, abused my cousin mentally and emotionally and they damn well tried their hardest to physically harm him. That kind of shit leaves a mark on one's soul. On top of that, I just stood there and let the Hokage turn my little cousin into a child soldier. The only thing that stopped me from interfering was the knowledge that Naruto wished to become a shinobi."

"Why does it bother you so much that Naruto is a shinobi?"

"No child should be forced to fight the war before they even grow up. And you can dress up your missions however prettily you want to but you and I both know that each mission is a small battle in the war this entire damn world has been embroiled in since the day the Elemental Countries were sealed away from the rest of the world. War breaks a person, regardless of their age, but most adults at least have the maturity to cope in the aftermath while broken children eventually become broken adults that know nothing of life outside of war and therefore can't cope in a world without war."

"You are speaking from experience," Ibiki stated with certainty.

"Yes," Takeshi grudgingly admitted.

"And how old were you when you became a child soldier?"

"That's hard to say… it could have been the moment my parents conceived me while they were in the middle of fighting a war, it could have been the moment I was born and the leader of the opposing side decided that I was the one that would bring about his downfall. It could even have been the night the man murdered my parents and attempted to kill me for the first time when I was fifteen months old. Or it could have been on my eleventh birthday when the society my parents were part of came to collect their precious little scapegoat and properly cowed hero."

"You are still bitter." This too was a statement.

"Yes and no… despite the fact that death has dogged my footsteps my entire life, not everything I experienced was terrible. I still resent being set up to play martyr for an entire society that was far too frightened to pull their heads out of the sand to fight the terrorist that their prejudiced society gave birth to though. At the same time, I can't change who I am and I would not be the man I am now if not for that same society and the hardships I faced. If not for my friends and my self-made family, I could have easily turned into the next Dark Lord and that knowledge used to fuel a good many nightmares when I was younger."

"And what fuels your nightmares now, Namikaze-san?"

"My mistakes, Morino-san," Takeshi replied in a raspy tone that spoke of pain, grief, and regret and Ibiki wisely decided not to push the man into talking about the demons that haunted his past just yet.

"The last topic I wish to cover today is the oath of loyalty that you gave to the Hokage. He spoke to me about the short conversation he had with you regarding your reason for changing the wording of the oath and he asked me to speak to you about what you had revealed of your Kekkei Genkai. Specifically, he wished me to ask you why you chose to use your Kekkei Genkai to make your oath binding instead of just giving a verbal confirmation of your loyalty."

"I have no true control over that aspect of my Kekkei Genkai and the only bit that I can control is the type of oath I am giving and the wording of the oaths I swear."

"What do you mean by type?"

"My Kekkei Genkai does not interpret all spoken words as an oath; there are certain requirements for it to activate. I can make promises without triggering my Kekkei Genkai. However, verbal contracts, sworn oaths, and vows all contain words that will actively pull on my Kekkei Genkai due to the intent behind the words spoken. In the case of the oath that I gave to the Hokage, the moment I pledged my life and loyalty it drew upon my Kekkei Genkai because I was no longer just promising to protect the village."

"So why didn't you speak to the Hokage about that aspect of the oath before you gave it?"

"I don't particularly trust the Hokage and did not feel comfortable divulging that information before I had given my oath least he manipulate me into swearing a far more binding oath that I felt comfortable giving."

"Yet you felt comfortable enough to give him an oath?" Ibiki demanded incredulously.

"No, not really. However, I trust Minato and Minato trusts the Sandaime. Minato assured me that I would not fall under the direct supervision of the Hokage unless I join the AnBu Corps; which I have no intention of doing. I also know that I will have only minimal contact with the Hokage until I earn a promotion to Jounin or my family reaches the numbers necessary to reestablish us a proper clan so we can join the Village Council; and even then I could elect to send Arata in my place. The oath I made was also not iron-clad; meaning I can refuse any unreasonable order."

"What would you consider an unreasonable order?"

"Any order that would intentionally or unintentionally cause harm to my family and those orders that would potentially create problems for Konoha since I did swear loyalty to Konoha."

"And if the Hokage should unintentionally give you an order that you believe will cause your family harm?"

"I would first seek clarification and if I still find the order unacceptable, I would refuse to carry out said order. I would also explain why I am refusing. If, in the future, any attempt is made to abuse my oath, I can and will rescind my oath and remove my family from the village in order to protect them."

Ibiki dismissed the younger man a few minutes later; he'd learned enough from the young man for the moment and he'd gained a large list of potential subjects that he could broach with the man during future meetings once he'd had a chance to gain a measure of the man's trust. In the mean time, he had some research to do in order to see if he could match up the smallest of clues that the man had let slip in regards to the tailed beast he held at bay.

Maybe he could convince Shikaku to figure out the puzzle if he promised to maneuver Namikaze into agreeing to play a round of Shougi with the Jounin Commander.

* * *

**Translations:** Japanese to English

Arigatou – thank you  
Gaki – brat  
Inu – dog  
Itoko – cousin  
Konoha no Shiroi Kiba – Konoha's White Fang  
Kopi Ninja no Kakashi – Copy Ninja Kakashi  
Ohayou (gozaimasu) – good morning  
Sharingan no Kakashi – Kakashi of the Sharingan  
Teme – jerk/bastard (a rude way of saying you)

**Techniques/Skills:**

Kage Bunshin – shadow clones

Karyuudan no Jutsu – Fire Dragon Projectile Technique (non-canon – created by author and not to be mistaken for the dragon projectile attack with the same name that the Sandaime used in his fight against Orochimaru during the Chuunin Exam Arc)

Senei Jashu – Hidden Shadow Snake Hands

* * *

**AN:** _And there we have a brief glimpse of the impressions that Harry has made on a few key characters in the Naruto Verse. And not all of them were positive. Now, before Anko fans tear me a new one for their rather volatile encounter, please keep in mind that as of the time of their meeting, Harry knows nothing of Anko's past or the reasons why she was glaring at Naruto; all he saw was yet another person judging his little cousin. I also see Anko as having little care for social niceties or proper conduct. So, no, I was __**not**__ bashing her here in this chapter._

_Will they ever kiss and make up to become friends? Nope. Both Harry and Anko (and Naruto) are capable of carrying grudges if given proper motivation. Their personalities are far too different as well and I can easily see Harry lumping Anko in the same category as the Death Eaters and other unpleasant individuals he'd encountered in the wizarding world (such as the Malfoys) instead of trying to see past her abrasive front. Nor will he be all that interested in learning her personal history; though he may eventually pick it up through the grapevine. _

_Naruto's feelings about the matter will be further explored throughout the story; as will the consequences of Anko earning his ire. _

_The reasoning I used to have Harry swear his oath despite his feelings regarding the village and the Hokage were also explained as promised. For those who are still upset about it, I'm sorry, but I will not go back and change it. On the other hand, the oath is not a major plot-point in the story but it will crop up from time to time in later chapters. ~ Jenn_

**10-25-15:** _Minor edits made to chapter to fix spelling/grammar mistakes and removed unnecessary author's notes._


	20. Buying Permanency

**Disclaimer:** _All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies and all Naruto characters are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites._

**Warnings:** _AU for parts of both worlds (i.e. kiss canon goodbye), mild character bashing, mild to moderate violence (there are shinobi involved after all), and a few others that will be announced as they crop up. _

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

**Chapter 20: Buying Permanency**

_Monday, November 05, 2001, Morning  
Konohagakure no Sato, Hi no Kuni_

Harry kept his face a blank mask as he eyed the terrible state of the apartment that Naruto had lived in prior to setting out from Konoha in order to track down their (Harry and Dudley's) grandfather. The place was a dump… and that was being generous. The three years' worth of dust that covered everything had actually improved the appearance of the cramped flat. By comparison, the rest of the occupied flats in the cake-shaped complex could be considered fit for a king; and Harry had checked their condition after he had cast a temporary x-ray spell on his glasses that would allow him to peer through walls (an ability inspired by the late Mad Eye Moody's magical eye).

The wizard sneezed as he inhaled another clump of dust and leveled a glare at the offensive apartment as if blaming the unlivable living space for its own inadequacy and deplorable condition. When he sneezed a second time just five seconds later, Harry was tempted to purchase the entire building and raze it to the ground just on general principle. He froze as he considered that idea (the purchasing part, not the razing; even if he still felt the building deserved it).

After a moment, he nodded to himself; the building sat right on the edge of the nearby commercial zone and with the help of his elves, he could easily gut the entire complex and convert the building into a restaurant with plenty of living space above. There was even room enough for him to have a carriage house built on the ground level so as to offer transportation to and from the restaurant for the customers; something that would help set the place apart from other restaurants and hopefully draw customers (and an idea that Dudley had mentioned a time or two in passing).

Relocating the handful of other tenants that lived in the building might be a hassle but so long as he gave them at least thirty days' notice to vacate the premises, he shouldn't have a problem getting them out. He could even sweeten the deal for them by offering to pay their moving expenses and allowing them to stay rent free for the full thirty-days so as not to inconvenience them. All he had to do was make certain that Naruto would be alright with what he planned; this had been his cousin's first home for at least three years, after all.

Glancing sideways at the eleven year old in question (and sneezing yet again), Harry figured it wouldn't be too hard to get the kid to agree to the changes that Harry was envisioning based upon the embarrassed glare the blond was giving the kitchen from where he was standing in the middle of the room. Another sneeze settled the matter in Harry's mind and he gathered his Gryffindor courage and Slytherin tact as he addressed the younger boy in English.

"_Oi, squirt; just how attached are you to this dump?_"

"_I hate it… but it's the only place I ever lived when I still lived here in Konoha… well aside from the orphanage. It's never been home though, not like Grimmauld Place or the house we shared in the Elemental District was_," Naruto replied slowly as he glanced about the room while Harry sneezed for what seemed the millionth time. "_Part of me wishes I could tear it down just so I don't ever have to see it again._"

"_Yeah, I know that feeling and I've only been in here for twenty minutes,_" Harry dryly agreed around a series of sneezes that had him whipping out the Elder Wand and vanishing every last particle of dust within range of his spell. "_Whaddya say we buy the building, kick the other tenants out, gut it like a fish, and use it for the Namikaze restaurant?_"

"Nani…!?" Naruto exclaimed as he whipped his head around to stare at Harry in shock; the pre-teen falling back into Japanese out of habit.

"Well, think about it… this building sits right on the edge of the market district; which means that it is zoned for both commercial and residential use. The lot is also big enough to have the restaurant, a carriage house, and lots and lots of living space above both of the businesses. Hell, there's even enough room up on the roof to build a greenhouse. And while you'd technically still be living in the same building, it would be nothing like this poor excuse for a flat. The building probably should have been condemned long before you moved in."

"Do you think the Hokage would allow it?"

"I don't see why not. Even the displacement of the current tenants wouldn't cause that many problems since there are so few. Buying the entire building would also mean that we could all live together until you get sick of us, find yourself a cute little girlfriend to marry, and move into your parents' old home so we old folks don't get on your last nerve."

"There isn't enough room for all of the horses though," Naruto pointed out as he ignored the jib about getting a girlfriend and getting married; the boy still thought girls had cooties.

"So, we look for a large vacant lot we can buy and turn it into a proper pasture for the pony brigade and rotate the horses that haul the carriages on a weekly basis."

"Do you think Arata and Eri will agree to it?"

"We could ask them when we see them for lunch. I know Dudders has been disappointed and in some cases disgusted with each of the available buildings that the real estate agent has shown him. Most of them are far too small for our needs and sit on lots that are far too small for us to use to our advantage."

Dudley had taken one look at the property right after lunch and immediately grasped the potential that Harry had seen for the lot and the building. Eloise had been thrilled with the fact that there more than enough space for both the restaurant and their family; since it meant that there would be plenty of room for the little one they had on the way. Convincing the Hokage to sell the property to the small family had been fairly easy since the influx of ready cash would greatly boost Konoha's floundering economy when combined with the future jobs that opening their restaurant would provide.

It also helped that all five current tenants were quite willing to take Harry's offer of a month free of rent and fully paid moving expenses (in the form of five D Ranked missions for five Genin teams). That was on top of the week long D Ranked mission that would be filed to have a Genin team (or two) help haul out the trash from the vacant apartments. The four C Ranked missions to hire some help to completely gut the building one floor at a time from the ground up. And the assortment of D and C Ranked delivery missions that would be placed for any out of town supply purchases (for those items they hadn't brought with them) since the three Namikaze adults wouldn't be allowed out of the village for the remainder of their probation.

While Dudley was handling the details of the new purchase and hiring contractors to help them renovate the building, Harry spent his free time cantering through the village looking for a potential lot to buy for the horses. The current lot where their wagons were parked was for sale but it was just far too small and because it sat right smack dab in the middle of the village far too impractical to use for the horses on a long-term basis. There were more than enough lots and parks scattered through the village that would have made perfect pastures. The problem was that each one of those particular places were already designated as shinobi training grounds or actual parks and therefore not for sale (at any price).

It wouldn't be until around the middle of the month that Harry stumbled across the ruins of two large estates that were situated near the wall in the north-western part of the village and fairly close to one another. The northern most estate sat at the southern edge of a group of streets that formed a diamond, was close enough to the river that fresh water wouldn't be an issue (not that it would have been anyway with his magic), and there were no village owned training grounds or occupied homes within ten miles of the estate.

The second estate sat just a few miles south and slightly to the west of the first one, was on the very edge of the closest residential area, and ran almost right next to the fifteen foot clear zone where Harry continued to exercise the horses at least twice a week. With both estates being on the edge of the village, it meant that the horses' presence wouldn't cause a problem with any neighbors. There was also more than enough room to pasture the two breeds of horses he'd brought with him separately in addition to setting up a small farm to grow fresh produce for the restaurant and a small crop or two of alfalfa to help offset the cost of feeding the horses.

And with the roads surrounding the upper estate being unused (and therefore unmaintained by the village) and nothing but forest land separating the two estates, Harry could probably talk the Hokage to letting him extend the property lines of both properties to make one large estate. That would allow him to claim the neglected roads so he could clean them up to create a private training track or a riding track. All he had to do was figure out what angle he needed to use to get the stubborn old man to agree to let him purchase such a large tract of land in addition to the two estates.

He then thought about the information that the Sandaime, Ibiki, and Yamato had been attempting to get out of him in regards to his Kekkei Genkai, the Kyuubi, and his past and wondered if he could barter some of that information alongside of his vast fortune (the full extent of which he'd never disclosed).

On November twentieth, when the first of the tenants moved out of the old apartment complex, Harry finally approached the Hokage in regards to the two estates and the track of land he wished to purchase. He had with him copies of the old public survey reports of the land in question (the two estates and the land that separated them), a description and photos of the current condition of both estates, an itemized list of the work he intended to do to the land and how he intended to use it once he finished cleaning up the properties, and a very specific list of what assets and which information he was willing to depart with in order to purchase said land. Dudley had helped him write everything up in proper legalese so that it looked and sounded professional.

Harry ended up spending five hours sequestered with the Hokage negotiating for the purchase of the land he needed to keep, breed, and raise his horses as well as grow an assortment of produce for their restaurant.

In the end, it cost him five million ryō (one half paid up front – a quarter of which was paid in ready cash and the other quarter paid in precious metals and gemstones – and the other half covered by a twenty year mortgage loan purchased through the Bank of Konoha with a fixed interest rate of ten percent), a demonstration of three skills/abilities he had not previously revealed, and twenty questions worth of personal information from him (five regarding the bijuu he carried, five regarding his Kekkei Genkai, and ten regarding his past). The only conditions he had given them regarding that information were; that he would not reveal the name of his Kekkei Genkai, that he would not answer any general or open ended questions (meaning the questions had to be very specific), and that he would not answer any questions until he held the deeds to his new property in his hands.

It would take the Hokage six days to procure the deeds to the Hattori and Shizen Estates and the tract of land that sat between both estates, ran from the western most edges of the two estates to the edge of the forest that bordered the fifteen foot buffer that hugged the village's wall, and extended no further than the northern most point of the Shizen Estate (which ended at the top of the diamond formed by two of the roads that bordered the Estate) and no lower than the southern most edge of the Hattori Estate that ended at the start of a public road.

The purchase included the rights to all of the forest contained within the new boundaries of what would become the new Namikaze Estate and the roads that ran around the Shizen Estate (providing he followed the village's laws regarding all forestry within the village). That was also the earliest day his war council (Jiraiya, Tsunade, Ibiki, Shikaku, and the current AnBu Commander – code name Kasai), his advisory council (Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura), Yamato (as Harry's mentor and minder), and Kakashi (because he interacted with the family regularly) were all available to meet.

Harry walked into the Hokage's office on the heels of Yamato and Kakashi and nearly tripped over his feet when he saw just how many people were standing around in the office and he would have scowled if hadn't already suspected that the Hokage would have a number of his best shinobi present at this meeting in order to get the most out of the small interrogation he'd agreed to take part in. He closed his eyes briefly and sent up a prayer for patience and strength before he wiped his face clear of all emotions and positioned himself in the center of the room where he could see everyone clearly.

"Konbanwa, Hokage-sama and company," Harry greeted with a respectful bow before he nodded to the others present.

"Good evening, Takeshi-san," the Hokage replied in return with a small nod of acknowledgement as he activated the privacy barrier to prevent anyone from eavesdropping on their meeting. "I have the deeds to your new property here along with an official copy of the property assessment and property line survey that was taken within the last twenty-four hours; the original assessment and survey have been filed with the records office along with official copies of the deeds to the three properties. Please take a moment to make certain everything is in order before we discuss the agreed upon information payment that was part of the deal."

"Arigatou, Hokage-sama," Harry murmured as he stepped forward to collect scroll containing the official documents that the Sandaime held out for him to take. He took a brief moment to confirm that everything was in order (it was) before he tucked the documents back into the scroll and slipped the scroll into one of the hidden inner pockets of his cloak. "Where did you wish me to start, Hokage-sama?"

"With a demonstration of three skills that you have previously not disclosed… providing that they are not destructive in nature as I'd prefer that you didn't destroy my office," the Sandaime replied as he removed his hat and sat back to study Harry.

"Wakarimasu," Harry replied as he drew his holly wand and considered what he could show them that wouldn't create a mess. After a moment he decided on the Stunning Spell, the Disarming Spell, and a conjuration spell. "The first skill is an ability to knock a person unconscious without touching them." Harry flicked his wand at Kakashi and fired a silent Stunning Spell that caught the Jounin completely off guard as the red light washed over the man.

"There are only two ways to recover from this method of attack; I can wake him up with the counter or I can leave him to wake up on his own in five to ten hours from now; the length of time a victim is out depends upon the amount of power I use in conjunction with the victim's age, body mass, and current physical, mental, and emotional health."

"Please wake him up now," the Sandaime requested after Tsunade had confirmed that the man was just unconscious and that she couldn't wake him with a jutsu.

Harry flicked his wand at the unconscious Jounin a second time and the man woke up with a slight headache and a dry mouth; he gave Harry a dirty look the moment he realized that he'd just been used as the wizard's guinea pig. The young mage just smirked at the silver haired man while Tsunade scanned him a second time. Harry would wait another minute before he continued with his demonstration.

"The second ability is closely related to the ability to knock an individual unconscious and it is the ability to completely disarm an opponent without needing to physically touch them or even know where they have hidden all of their weapons on their person," Harry continued as he flicked his wand at Ibiki and cast a silent Disarming Spell at him followed by a silent Summoning Charm that piled the man's many weapons at Harry's feet. "I can also return the weapons in a similar manner." A Banishing Charm shoved the pile of sharp and pointy objects back over to the now glowering interrogator.

"And the final ability," Shikaku asked lazily as he turned to watch Ibiki irritably gather up the confiscated weapons and return them to their proper places.

"Is a little bit harder to define since it involves the ability to conjure any non-living object," Harry replied as he tucked his holly wand away, pulled out the Elder Wand, and swept his arm wide as he conjured enough chairs for everyone that was currently standing. "I suppose you could say that I am my own personal supply warehouse; though the ability does have limits. The things I create are not permanent, I can not create edible food, and I can not create actual life even if I can animate any object that I conjure."

Harry demonstrated this by animating one of the chairs and having it gallop around the room before he canceled the animation charm after its second circuit. The wizard then tucked the wand away and turned his attention back to the Hokage as he asked, "I trust my demonstration was satisfactory, Hokage-sama?"

"Hai; though it did bring to mind at least another dozen questions I'd love to ask you about your abilities and makes me wonder what else you are hiding from us."

Harry said nothing as he smiled at the man to whom he'd sworn his oath of loyalty and waited for the inquisition to begin as he mentally prepared himself for the questions he knew they would ask. Questions to which they'd been seeking the answers to since the day they'd first arrived in Konoha close to two months earlier.

"In order to make things easier for everyone to follow and for you to keep track of the questions you are asked, I've asked Shikaku to be our spokesman," the Sandaime finally stated after he'd watched Jiraiya tentatively seat himself in one of the conjured chairs that were still scattered about the room.

"Wakarimasu," Harry murmured before he turned to give his complete attention to the misleadingly lazy man.

"You have, on more than one occasion, made references to war in which you fought," Shikaku stated in a measured tone as he crossed his arms over his chest and studied Harry from beneath hooded eyes. "What was the rationale behind the war, has the war actually ended or has it just been shelved for the time being, and on which side of the conflict did you fight (the winning side or the losing side)?"

"One; the war was fought over blood heritage. To put it in terms that you can relate to; a group of Kekkei Genkai holders that believed they were superior because they had an unbroken line of Kekkei Genkai users in their family tree for at least three generations (the longer that line remained unbroken, the more esteemed their family was considered) sought to eradicate all of those who they saw as inferior – basically anyone who did not have a Kekkei Genkai, anyone who was a first generation Kekkei Genkai user or the only Kekkei Genkai holder in their family, and anyone who didn't agree with their beliefs."

"Two; I do not know if the war is over for good or not. The prejudices in the society into which I was born run rampant and similar wars have visited our world many times over the past eleven hundred years and there always seem to be enough discontent individuals to pick up the torch every twenty to thirty years. The most recent continuation of the war actually started in the mid to late nineteen sixties, experienced a brief period of peace from October thirty-first nineteen eighty-one until June of ninety-five, and picked up steam in June of ninety-six before I defeated the leader of the Blood Purists in May of nineteen ninety-eight."

"Right now, the number of Blood Purists that remain are currently at an all time low due to a number of families dying out or ending up in prison. Additionally, there are a number of influential individuals that are working to change the laws and traditions that propagated the seeds of discontent. However, it is still far too soon to tell whether or not they will be successful in bridging the gap between the purebloods (those from families with three or more unbroken generations of Kekkei Genkai users) and the newborns (those who are the first Kekkei Genkai user within their families)."

"Three; I was on the winning side… the side that fought for equality amongst all and to protect the innocents from the deprivations of those who sought to crush those they considered beneath them."

Shikaku's eyes sharpened as he stood up just a little straighter before he asked, "You said that you defeated the leader of the opposition; was your personal victory just happenstance or was that your goal? What exactly was the part you played in the war? How many of your enemies still live? And what are the chances that your enemies will seek out you or your family here in Konoha?"

"Four; defeating the leader of the opposition was my end goal. I faced him personally no less than six times over the course of my first seventeen years and fought his followers on more than one occasion. Five; is a bit more complicated to explain or define… my parents and I were semi-responsible for the fourteen years of peace that disrupted the most recent two halves of the on-going war; or more specifically, my parents' deaths and my inexplicable survival was the catalyst for the fourteen years of peace. I was also both the rallying point and the de facto leader for the second half of the most recent war after the previous leader was killed. I was also meant to die a martyr's death."

"Six; I don't have an exact number but I would estimate between twenty and thirty of Tom's followers still live. And seven…? The chances are actually fairly non-existent for several reasons. A; knowledge of the Elemental Nations is almost non-existent in the Outer Countries. B; less than five people living in the Outer Countries know I traveled through the portal with my family. C; with the exception of Naruto, all of us changed our names completely so as not to stand out on this side of the portal; none of us were born Namikazes, even if Arata and I have Namikaze blood running through our veins. And d; the number of people that live on the other side of the portal that are capable of opening the portal number less than a dozen according to what I was told."

"Who raised you after your parents died?" Shikaku asked after a long period of silence in which Harry suspected the more experienced shinobi in the office used coded hand signs to discuss his answers and the remaining three questions about his past that they wanted answered the most.

"Eight; my maternal aunt and her husband," Harry answered; the wizard numbering the answer out of habit in order to keep track of the number of questions he'd been asked.

"Were your aunt and uncle the ones that abused you during your childhood?"

Harry scowled and tensed his shoulders as he closed his eyes and fought the urge to tell the older man where to shove the highly invasive question. Once he was in control of his emotions, Harry answered in a clipped tone, "I was not abused. I was unwanted, unloved, and unhappy on top of being moderately neglected but they did not outright abuse me. Despite the many, many parallels between mine and Naruto's early life; I had a constant roof over my head, clothes on my back, and food in my stomach so long as I didn't cause trouble."

"Last question regarding your past; why did you willingly choose to travel to Konoha in the company of your older cousin when your cousin freely admitted to the fact that he had bullied you during most of your shared childhood?"

"When Tom, the much feared leader of the opposition, made his big return; those in charge of the government did not wish to believe the man still lived and so they sought to shut me up because I was the only one that had… witnessed the man's return aside from a small number of his followers. They sent a type of low-level demon to kill me. My cousin and I were both caught up in the attack and I used my Kekkei Genkai to save our lives; a Kekkei Genkai that my aunt, uncle, and cousin do not possess."

"Those demons have the ability to force a person to view their darkest memories and the attack shook my cousin up and woke him up. The person my cousin is now is a far different person than he was before that attack. He turned his life around and I had no right to hold the way he was raised against him when he was just as much a victim of my upbringing as I was; only he ended up on the other side of the coin. We both matured during the final two years of the war as we were forced to grow up."

"And in case you're wondering, no; I don't hate my cousin for what happened in the past because to hate him now would be to belittle his accomplishments," Harry finished with a crooked half smile that was part wistful, part bemused, and part wry. "After all, in the end; family is family and I never turn my back on family. Not even if they hate me. Otherwise I would have left my aunt and uncle to the likes of Tom and his little lapdogs and thanked him for saving me the trouble of disposing of them myself."

A small break was taken at that point as the Hokage asked his secretary to bring them a pot of tea and a light snack; the discussion about his past had taken close to an hour and a half because some of his replies had been rather long-winded. While he waited, Harry meditated in order to sooth his inner torment and lay the memories of the war and his childhood back to rest so that he would be clear headed for the second half of the interrogation. Tsunade actually stepped up behind him and soothed the mild headache he'd developed due to the stressful and unpleasant subject and Harry would have happily taken a nap when she finished if not for the arrival of the requested refreshments.

"The next topic we wish to cover is the bijuu you are carrying," Shikaku stated once everyone had had a chance to drink at least a single cup of tea and eat some of the anpan that had been provided with the beverage. "Through the process of elimination based upon the public knowledge of the Jinchuuriki and their burdens, we've determined that the bijuu that you are carrying has between four and seven tails. So, the first question we have is; which of the bijuu are you carrying?"

"The Kyuubi."

* * *

**Translations:** Japanese to English

Gaki – brat  
Itoko – cousin  
Kasai – flame  
Konbanwa – good evening  
Wakarimasu – I understand (formal – present tense)

**Notes:**

Newborn vs. Muggleborn – I went out on a limb and translated the term muggleborn into newborn as I did not see the term muggleborn being easily understood by those unfamiliar with the wizarding world. I've also pretty much set it up that the Elemental Nations do not speak English and that any western influences were minimized due to the rarity of travel between the Outer Countries and the Elemental Nations (with most travelers leaving the pocket dimension for one reason or another and rarely ever returning).

* * *

**10-25-15:** _Minor edits made to chapter to fix spelling/grammar mistakes and removed unnecessary author's notes._


	21. Information Overload

**Disclaimer:** _All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies and all Naruto characters are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites._

**Warnings:** _AU for parts of both worlds (i.e. kiss canon goodbye), mild character bashing, mild to moderate violence (there are shinobi involved after all), and a few others that will be announced as they crop up. _

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

**Chapter 21: Information Overload**

_Monday, November 26, 2001, Evening  
Konohagakure no Sato, Hi no Kuni_

The moment Harry had announced which bijuu he contained pandemonium filled the office for several minutes as the shinobi protested his claim or spluttered in shock. It was actually kind of amusing to witness because shinobi were usually so unflappable and Harry's inner prankster just loved spreading chaos.

"That is not possible," Jiraiya blurted out the moment the furor settled down enough for the man to make himself heard; the Gama Sennin frowning intently at Harry. "Naruto-kun carries the nine tailed fox."

"How could you possibly be carrying the Kyuubi if Naruto is still obviously carrying the Kyuubi?" Shikaku inquired on the heels of Jiraiya's protest while everyone else fell silent in order to hear Harry's response. "We have solid proof that his seal has not been tampered with at any point in his life."

"In order for me to answer that, I have to ask; how much do you know about what happened the night Minato sealed the Kyuubi into Naruto?" Harry asked instead of immediately answering the question as he buried his amusement over their temporary loss of control.

"We know that he summoned the shinigami in order to exchange his soul for the power and strength to seal the Kyuubi within his son," the Hokage answered with a puzzled frown. "There was no one present aside from those involved in the sealing, so we don't know exactly what transpired, we only have hints that we used to deduce what we could of the situation; such as the fact that both Kushina and Minato had been fatally wounded at some point before the Kyuubi had been resealed."

"Okay, that at least gives an idea of just how little you know about what happened. Rather than go into a detailed explanation, I'm going to summarize the relevant information into a chronological list of facts as I know them to help you understand. If you want the detailed information, you're going to have to ask Minato because he can explain it better. And, because your question was rather broad, my answer is also going to be worth a full three questions due to how much information I'll be giving you," Harry stated as he focused his gaze on the floor to better concentrate on his answer.

"Fact one; Kushina was dying because the Kyuubi had been forcefully extracted from her by an enemy. Fact two; Minato and Kushina argued about sealing the Kyuubi into Naruto before they came to an agreement. Fact three; only a newborn or another Uzumaki with Kushina's abilities could have survived the resealing. Fact four; the entirety of the Kyuubi's soul and chakra were far too powerful to seal inside of a newborn child – hence why Uzumaki Kushina was selected as Mito's successor instead of a newborn baby."

"Fact five; the shinigami ripped away the Kyuubi's yin chakra and half of its soul through Minato and the Kyuubi's yang chakra and the other half of its soul through Naruto with Kushina's help which is how half of the Kyuubi ended up sealed inside of Naruto. Fact six; the Kyuubi's yin chakra and partial soul that the shinigami ripped from the Kyuubi were devoured alongside of Minato's soul when the shinigami's task was completed. Fact seven; in my ignorance and in pursuit of the knowledge I needed to know in order to understand why Naruto claimed he was a demon, I mistakenly summoned the shinigami that had devoured Minato's spirit when I attempted to call upon my cousin's soul."

"Fact eight; I challenged the shinigami without fully understanding what the being was capable of and the end result was that the shinigami freed Minato's soul and shoved the second half of the Kyuubi's chakra and soul into me – forcefully expanding my chakra coils at the same time. And let me tell you, that hurt like a bitch too. Fact nine; both halves of the Kyuubi's soul can now be considered separate entities due to the fact that the half within me experienced a form of death while the half inside of Naruto did not. And fact ten; without my Kekkei Genkai, I would have died instantly."

Harry finally looked up at the gathered individuals as he added, "You get one more question about the Kyuubi."

"I suppose that's only fair," Shikaku murmured with a slight pout that almost made Harry burst out laughing. "There's something I don't understand… how is it possible to split a bijuu's soul? And how do you know you have exactly half? Does that mean that the light half of the Kyuubi's soul rests in Naruto while the dark half resides in you?"

"That's three questions… not one, Nara-san," Harry dryly pointed out which drew a slight blush from the older man and amused chuckles from the rest of the room. "I suppose I can let is slide though since you at least kept them to the same topic and it's not as if I know the full answer to the first question you asked…" The wizard trailed off for a moment as he considered the question. "I suppose you could say that the reason it was possible for the Kyuubi's soul to be split was the same way it was possible for the Rikudou Sennin to split the Juubi's soul into the nine tailed beasts."

"As for the other questions… props… I need props…" Harry muttered as he patted down his cloak until he located the pocket where he kept his blank scrolls and drew one out even as he drew out the Elder Wand once more with his other hand. He then transfigured the scroll into a three foot tall replica of the Kyuubi that he placed on a small waist high table he conjured as an afterthought to make the demonstration easier for everyone to see. "Okay, the nine bijuu were formed when the Rikudou Sennin sundered the Juubi and while they are sentient and have souls; they are usually considered constructs of potent chakra rather than beings of flesh and blood, correct?"

"Yes," Tsunade answered while everyone else was studying the amazingly lifelike miniature kitsune sitting on the stool in front of the wizard.

"A soul is somewhat intangible but it requires a physical form in order to remain on this plane of existence; in a living being, that is their body… for a ghost, they are usually tied to a place or an object. A person's chakra is made up of both physical energy and spiritual (or mental) energy and both types of energy are tied to both the soul and the body and that is what holds the soul in the living body. For ghosts, their mental energy has latched onto the physical energy of the place or object that they are tied to."

"The two types of energy mix freely within the body and the soul and it is that mingling that forms a person's life force or what you call chakra. Chakra can be further broken down into yin and yang which are both made up of a mixture of both energies and which represent light and dark but light and dark does not equate good and evil… the best way to describe them two types of chakra would be positive and negative; both have their uses but neither is good nor is either evil. A person feels both positive and negative emotions throughout their lifetime, after all, and getting angry does not mean that you are evil and being happy doesn't necessarily mean you are a good person."

"With both types of energy and both types of chakra freely mingling inside of a person, the splitting of a soul is not as simple as cutting it in half down the middle," Harry continued as he used the Elder Wand to create a non burning dark red flame to represent the Kyuubi's yin chakra and a pale yellow flame to form the yang chakra with both types of flames possessing blue and green tongues of flame representing the mental and physical energies and allowed them to mingle before he cut the model in half. "As you can see, if you just split the soul right down the middle, you'll get an uneven mixture of both types of chakra and both types of energy on top of two unstable soul pieces but will have exactly one half of the Kyuubi's energy."

"Instead, the shinigami grabbed hold of the Kyuubi's yin chakra using Minato's soul as a conduit and the Kyuubi's yang chakra using Naruto's soul as a conduit and pulled the two chakra types apart while Kushina physically restrained the Kyuubi to prevent it from escaping," Harry explained as he repaired the model.

He then added little ghostly replicas of Minato, Kushina, Naruto, and the shinigami and set them up so the shinigami had grabbed hold of the dark flames with one hand through Minato and the light flames with the other through Naruto and pulled while Kushina chained the model in place with chakra chains. As the model was torn asunder once more, the Kyuubi's soul was pulled from the body and split into two identical copies of the Kyuubi (one wrapped all in dark flames and other all wrapped in pale flames) while the Kyuubi's body turned to dust.

"As you can see, forcefully separating the yin chakra from the yang chakra split the Kyuubi's soul into two seemingly identical halves while the body was destroyed by the backlash of power required to sunder the soul. The difference between the soul fragment that I carry and the soul fragment that Naruto carries, is that Naruto received the Kyuubi's consciousness and yang chakra while I hold the Kyuubi's subconsciousness and yin chakra. Both halves are equal even if they are not the same and both halves can now be considered independent of one another since they can function alone even if they were both formerly part of the whole."

"Both halves have the full range of emotions, despite the separation of yin and yang, and both halves have exactly half of the Kyuubi's chakra so they are equal in power. The difference between them would be that Naruto's half of the soul will have the drive to actively try to corrupt him while the half I carry will potentially try far more insidious methods in order to get to me once the beast awakens. However, because I am far older, more mature, and have fewer insecurities than Naruto, the Kyuubi will have a harder time influencing me. At the same time, I am far more jaded than Naruto and less willing to see the good in everyone."

Harry banished his little aides at that point and returned the former Kyuubi model back into its original form of a blank scroll and tucked it back into his pocket while he waited for the others to assimilate the sheer volume of information that Harry had just given to them. For a brief moment, Harry was afraid that he'd broken the older adults in the office with his explanation on how it was possible to separate a soul into two pieces and how the souls had been split to create two new equal entities due to the silence that had fallen over the office in direct contrast to the earlier pandemonium over the revelation that he held half of the Kyuubi.

Shikaku looked particularly constipated and Harry imagined the man's brain must be working overtime as he could practically see the smoke rising from the man's ears. Kakashi appeared to be bored and reading his ever present orange book but Harry knew the Jounin hadn't so much as turned a single page since he'd pulled the book from his utility pouch. Jiraiya was muttering to himself as he scratched the back of his left leg with the top of his right foot and Tsunade was fiddling with her necklace pendant as she stared out over the village seemingly lost in thought.

The masked Kasai was difficult to read behind his mask but he was obviously observing Harry through the eyes of his stylized flame mask. Ibiki was practically drilling holes through Harry as the man undoubtedly analyzed everything he'd learned so far and used that information to further psychoanalyze Harry's mental and emotional state. Sarutobi's two former teammates were as lost in thought as Tsunade, though they were both focused entirely on Harry and had near calculating gleams in their eyes.

And Yamato…? Yamato was currently inspecting one of the wooden chairs that Harry had conjured earlier and Harry got the distinct impression that the man was trying commune with Harry's conjured chair like he does with the trees and plants scattered about the village. As he watched his mentor and minder, Harry saw the man grow another chair that was identical in every way to the one that Harry had grown with the exception that Harry's had been made with pure magic while Yamato's chair had been made with pure chakra. Harry was forced to smother a snicker when the man actually leaned down and started sniffing the two chairs as if he sought to determine whether or not they both smelled the same.

"Mendoukusei, you have no idea how many questions I have clamoring about in my head right now," Shikaku complained eventually; drawing everyone's attention from the private little worlds they had slipped into in their efforts to process the information Harry had given them. "I've half a mind to accuse you of intentionally offering to answer a handful of questions just so you can generate thousands more and confuse us so thoroughly that we forget what we were originally looking to learn."

"Has it worked, Nara-san?" Harry asked cheekily as he ducked his head and ran his index finger over the tip of his nose so that he was watching the man from over the top of his glasses.

"Are you certain that you aren't related to Kushina instead of Minato? She was the consummate prankster with the hair trigger temper," Jiraiya complained as he made a face at Harry.

"Positive; though, I am the son, godson, and honorary nephew of three of the greatest pranksters to ever grace the halls of… my boarding school. I also still own a joke shop and am the silent financial backer slash partner of a second joke shop in the Outer Countries; the money I earn from those two investments will pay for the upkeep of the properties that I couldn't bring myself to sell because of the heritage they represent. "

"Just how rich are you, anyway?" Tsunade inquired with affected casualness.

"Irrelevant… I only brought enough money and tradable commodities with me to insure that our family could survive for up to a minimum of five years while we established ourselves here in Konoha – something that we knew would take time."

"In other words, the man is filthy stinking rich and he's not going to share any of that wealth with you so that you can finance your gambling habit and alcohol addiction," Shikaku snarkily translated; something that had Harry choking on air as he whipped around to stare at the man. "How else do you explain the fact that you bought an entire apartment complex with ready cash and paid half up front when you purchased two abandoned estates and a large track of prime forest land… with more than enough cash on hand to pay the full price, Takeshi-san?"

"_Bloody hell, you're like a female version of Hermione,_" Harry complained in English as he hunched his shoulders and pouted at the man. He at least had the satisfaction of knowing that he'd just confused the man entirely in return by using a language that he was obviously not familiar with.

"Aren't you a little old to be pouting…?" Ibiki inquired with a drawl that made it sound like he was laughing at Harry.

"Aren't you a little too old to stoop so low as to pick on the rookie in the room?" Harry fired right back without missing a beat.

The tension in the office eased as everyone laughed at the short exchange before making themselves comfortable once more as they waited for Shikaku to wrap up the short interrogation. The man in question sighed as he dropped back against the wall once more and readopted a lazy pose before he complained, "I suppose we might as well wrap things up here before my troublesome wife yells at me for staying out late and accuses me of drinking with Chouza and Inoichi instead of attending a meeting with Sarutobi-sama."

"The last topic we have to cover is your Kekkei Genkai and since we know so little about your ability aside from what you've told us and what you've shown us and you've requested that we not ask you what your ability is called… why don't you give us ten words that apply to your Kekkei Genkai that we can use to determine which missions your skills will be of the most use on?"

"Ten words huh…? I think I can do that," Harry murmured as he dropped his head back to stare up the ceiling for a moment while he scratched his chin. When he began speaking again, each word was weighed and measured before he spoke it out loud, "Versatility, unpredictability, sentience… no… intuitiveness maybe, um… willpower, raw power, responsibility, belief or maybe confidence would be the better word, balance, healing and health… they're close to being the same thing but not quite, and… and… death."

"At what age did you activate your ability, when did you start training your ability, and how many years of training has it taken you to master your abilities?"

"In order; the day I was born, shortly after my eleventh birthday, and I never stopped learning or training my ability as it takes an entire lifetime to master it."

"I suppose that brings us to the last question… does your son and Naruto also have the same Kekkei Genkai?"

"Naruto…? No, my Kekkei Genkai was passed down through my maternal grandmother and not mine and Naruto's common ancestor. My son, on the other hand, does have the same Kekkei Genkai… though that doesn't mean that we will both be able to use it the same way and there are specific skills that we each have that can't be taught to another because they are inherited; such as my son's ability to change his appearance without the need to use a henge and my ability to speak to snakes."

"I don't suppose there's anything else you'd be willing to share…?" Kasai asked with a mixture of resignation and hope.

"Hmm… I suppose that I could tell you that out of those individuals born with my Kekkei Genkai, I am the strongest of my generation within the land of my birth and potentially world-wide, though I've not met enough people from around the world to know for certain and that assumption was based upon a test that was taken five or six years ago. I might be willing to admit that I haven't even scratched the surface of what my Kekkei Genkai can do and could potentially do in the future with the proper training. It might be prudent of me to admit that my Kekkei Genkai is in no way connected to my chakra and therefore allows me to continue fighting even after I've exhausted my chakra reserves."

"My secondary reserves are currently between six and nine times larger than my current chakra reserves and will continue to grow until I reach my twenty-fifth birthday, which means that I could continue to function for days while suffering chakra exhaustion. Conversely, if my secondary reserves are exhausted, then I'll be completely useless no matter how much chakra I have available. And lastly, I should warn you; if I hear perfect strangers or worse civilians discussing my abilities on the street, I will remove all knowledge of me, my abilities, and my family from the minds of everyone on this side of the portal using a seal that is more complex than the one that holds the Kyuubi at bay."

"I grudgingly provided a wealth of information today because I realize that I have to be willing to trust you up to a point, if you are to trust me in return and because I am aware of the tactical advantage it would be for you to have an idea of what I am capable of doing. It helps that aside from the occasional idiot or bigot; most of the villagers show none of the open hostility that Naruto had told me about when I first met him. I also like living here far more than I thought I would and I find it relaxing to walk or ride down the street and not worry about being mobbed by rabid fan-girls or fan-boys. Blessed anonymity agrees with me just as much as I'd hoped it would."

"You have my word that no one outside of this room will learn anything about your abilities that they don't already know or what they have seen you do with their own eyes," the Hokage solemnly intoned as he filled the bowl of his pipe with tobacco, tamped the tobacco down, and lit the pipe with a long match that he struck on the graphite strip glued to the outside of his ashtray. "I certainly have no desire to jeopardize the working relationship that we've developed over the past two months. The only noteworthy point of contention would be the feud that you started with Tokubetsu Mitarashi."

"I started nothing; she was the one that had been glaring at the boys simply because they'd tagged along with me to buy some dango the moment they heard where Yamato-san was taking me. If that wasn't irritating enough, the damn woman had the gall to attack me _**in front of my son**_ while my back was turned. She terrified my son and because he still can't control his Kekkei Genkai when he is emotional, my son's ability was on full display for every single person in that damn stand! Something I most certainly _**did not**_ want to happen. That she also pulled that stunt in front of Naruto was sheer stupidity on her part. Naruto is highly protective of Satoshi (whom he sees as a little brother) and he is more than a little vindictive when it comes to pranking those that he feels harmed or slighted his precious people in any way."

"Are you trying to tell me that an eleven year old is the one pranking Anko two and three times per day?" Ibiki demanded in disbelief.

"Yes he is; his skills in pranking and trapping have grown by leaps and bounds since I first met him," Harry replied with a cheeky grin that was a little on the feral side. "Besides, is a Genin pranking a Tokubetsu Jounin without getting caught really any different than a half trained Chuunin pranking one of the Sannin and getting away with it?"

"What are you talking about?" Jiraiya asked curiously at the same time as Tsunade demanded, "You did that?"

"Did you really think that I was going to just let your merciless teasing go unpunished, Tsunade-sama?"

"What did you do?" Kasai inquired as the volatile kunoichi glared murderously at the younger shinobi.

"The little gaki made my hair fall out and it took me almost three weeks to grow it out again!" Tsunade hissed as she drew back her fist to punch Harry; the wizard saved from the brutal beating by Jiraiya grabbing hold of his teammate's fist.

"At least I didn't prevent you from covering the loss with a glamour… which I could have done."

"Jiraiya, let me go so that I can give the gaki the beating he deserves."

"You can try but that doesn't mean I'll just let you hit me; I may be reckless but I'm not stupid enough to just stand still and let you punch me when I'm fully aware of just how much damage you could do to me with your chakra enhanced strength," Harry stated as he took two steps away from the angry woman and palmed the Elder Wand once more. "I respect your abilities as both a medic and a kunoichi but that doesn't mean that I'll just sit and take anything you dish out; including embarrassing the hell out of me just because I chose not to sleep with any of the girls and women that threw themselves at me from the moment I hit puberty."

"Wait… did you just imply that you're still a virgin!?" Jiraiya demanded in shock as he let go of Tsunade to twist around to stare at Harry it utter disbelief. The fact that Harry turned bright red and refused to meet the man's gaze appeared to be answer enough. "Oh you poor, poor boy; we can't let that stand! You'll come with me tonight and so we can cure you of that terrible injustice…"

Tsunade's fist sent Jiraiya flying into the nearest wall as her ire immediately switched targets. Harry blinked at the spot where Jiraiya had been standing before his eyes slipped sideways to take in the now unconscious Sennin pooled in an undignified puddle at the base of the wall. He then turned to eye the still irritated woman that hadn't hesitated to pound her teammate.

"Tsunade-sama, perhaps I owe you an apology for seeing your teasing as annoying when it has just become obvious that there are some things that are far more horrifying that a little friendly teasing."

"I'll let you make it up to me by allowing you to take me out for dinner and sake tonight."

"I'd be happy to treat you to a meal at a restaurant of your choice, however, tonight is not a good night as I promised Arata that I'd help him work on the blueprints for the restaurant once I was finished here," Harry replied with a slight frown. "In fact, he's probably wondering where I am since this meeting has taken a bit longer than I anticipated. Was there anything else you needed from me or may I go now?"

"I believe that we are finished with you for the time being," the Sandaime allowed after a brief, and silent, exchange with a couple of the higher ranked shinobi in the office. "Thank you for sharing as much as you did… I believe we've learned far more than we expected to when we first negotiated tonight's meeting."

Harry nodded absently before he spun on his heel and vanished from the office without a sound as he chose to apparate himself back to the wagons in order to save himself the walk. Naruto and Teddy were both waiting for him when he arrived and Harry soon found himself hauling both boys towards the vardo where Dudley and Eloise were waiting for him. As they ate a small elf-made feast and poured over the blueprints for the ground floor of the old apartment complex they'd purchased, Harry filled the others in on how much information he ended up sharing with those that had been present at his meeting.

A similar discussion was being held within the office he'd just left; though the Hokage and his shinobi were breaking down and analyzing the wealth of information that they had been given. It was a conversation that would last well beyond midnight as they also included all of the previous information they'd learned from the wizard and his family or through the observations of the AnBu Guards that had been watching over the family.

* * *

_Tuesday, November 27, 2001 ~ Monday, December 31, 2001  
Konohagakure no Sato, Hi no Kuni_

With the deeds to their new property in hand, Harry moved the wagons and their horses into a large clearing that sat between the former Shizen and Hattori Estates first thing in the morning of the twenty-seventh. He then created an army of Kage Bunshin that he set to clearing out the ruins of the Shizen Estate while he and a dozen more clones walked the property line and warded the entirety of the new Namikaze Estate. He kept the wards fairly simple at this point; setting up a proximity ward to alert him to intruders and laying down a hostile intent ward that would prevent anyone that meant harm to anything or anyone inside of the ward harm from entering the property.

Once the wards were up and running, Harry sent one clone to open a mission request for three Genin teams to haul away the garbage that his clones were busy separating out from the reusable materials. Sure, he could do it himself using his clones but he had been asked to share a portion of the work to convert the land he'd purchased into a functioning farm slash horse ranch out amongst the village shinobi forces in order to help bolster the economy. Another clone was sent to the local mason to place a large order for the bricks, mortar mix, and concrete mix that would be needed to build the walls that Harry had planned. The steel rods he needed for the support framework of the walls would be purchased from the Outer Countries and secretly transported during the dead of night via house elf.

The other ten clones that had helped him raise the wards were then sent into the forest on the former Shizen Estate to mark those trees that needed to be relocated or cut down and mark suitable locations for the trees that were to be moved to (all residents required by law to maintain a specific number of trees per acre within the village). After his clones were properly occupied, Harry headed off to complete his usual daily routine; which included spending half of the morning training with Yamato, the other half of the morning at the Academy learning Konoha's recent history and laws (basically anything that had happened after the Yondaime's death), and the afternoon either completing a mission or being dragged about on tours of the village so that he could learn the layout of the village and be introduced to other shinobi.

Every Friday afternoon would find Harry in Tsunade's office for his scheduled treatments while the mornings on the last Friday of each month were dedicated to his therapy sessions with Ibiki.

The next six days would see Harry visiting the former Shizen Estate each morning before training in order to set an army of clones to work. On the third of December, the same day when the last of the tenants had finally moved out of the apartment complex, the last of the debris had been cleared from the ruins and Harry had requested and promptly received permission to take a couple of days off to do some landscaping. He was rather surprised when Yamato turned up at the estate on the fourth to teach him a couple of doton jutsu that were often used to repair damaged training grounds.

The Mokuton user even went so far as to help Harry level off the land centered within the roads around the former Shizen Estate, move or remove the trees Harry's clones had marked, and grow the fence to mark off a training arena for the horses. Harry suspected that the offer of help was both to allow the man to keep an eye on Harry and for him to monitor the work being done on the new estate but he didn't mind. The reason for that was because with Yamato's help, he had done three days worth of work over the course of a single day.

December fifth would see Harry's clones begin building a brick and concrete wall to enclose the land inside of the road loop that bordered that section of land. The ten foot wall would run right up against the inner edge of the road, have cement posts every twenty feet (to hold and hide the ward stones), be reinforced with magically enhanced steel running though the interlocking bricks that made up the sections between the posts, and be a full foot and a half thick. The interlocking pattern of bricks (which was not unidirectional like most wall patterns) and steel framework inside made for a stronger wall that would be much harder to break through than a normal brick or block wall; especially with magic enhancing and strengthening the structure.

The same day also saw a Genin team turning up at the apartment complex to help Dudley gut the ground floor of the apartment complex. It would take two days to gut each floor with a different team turning up each day to take the mission assignment (a total of twelve teams would end up working on the on-going mission). At the same time, another team was hired to transport the bricks, mortar mix, and bags of concrete out to the Namikaze Estate every three days as each shipment became ready (Harry's order far too large to fill in a single day and the main reason he'd placed the order long before he started building the wall).

During that time, Eloise would watch over Teddy and handle his lessons. She also planned out the layout and interior design for the restaurant now that the three adults had made a final decision on which type of restaurant they would be opening (which was based upon what they had learned of their current competition). Harry's elves were not idle during this time either.

Each night, the magical beings would transport goods back and forth from Harry's house in the Elemental District to the new estate, seed the newly formed pasture land with an appropriate mix of wild and domestic grasses that would provide a healthy and balanced diet for the horses, weed out any potentially harmful plants from the pastures, and use their magic to strengthen the growing wall (all without being seen by passing shinobi). The elves also helped with the renovation of the apartment complex; using their magic to reinforce the structure so that the building didn't collapse on their heads as they ripped out the non load-bearing walls, eradicate any and all pests that had been living in the building, and clean up the dust and debris that was missed by the young shinobi that hauled away the trash.

Once the entire apartment complex had been completely gutted on the fourteenth, Dudley hired an electrician to rewire the entire building, a plumber to do the same for the plumbing, and a contractor to convert the two bottom floors of the former complex into a restaurant and attached stable slash carriage house. Harry didn't have the time to be there every day but he did at least make it a point to have a few clones around to help Dudley deal with everything (something that his cousin appreciated). Each night, after the hired workers went home, Harry's clones would swarm the construction site and carve the runes for the protective wards that would shield the wiring from magic, reinforce the new plumbing, keep out pests, protect the restaurant from natural disasters (such as foul weather), and keep the smell of the horses that would be stabled in the carriage house from seeping into the restaurant.

On the tenth, Harry found his daily routine changing a bit as his afternoon meet and greet tours were dropped in favor of focusing on his training. That mainly involved being taught a handful of jutsu (after Yamato tested his chakra affinities; he had a strong connection to both wind and water), undergoing stealth training (which Harry aced fairly quickly), improving his tracking skills, and joint training sessions with the endless number of shinobi that he'd been introduced to over the past several weeks.

During the second half of the month, Harry would take a handful of breaks from his new training schedule to oversee the raising of several buildings on and around the former Shizen property. Those would include two stables, a barn (to store hay, straw bedding, and riding tack), a garage (to house the wagons and harnesses), several granaries, a mill, and three water towers just to name a few. Once all of the outbuildings for the new Namikaze Ranch had been built, he would turn his attention to the Hattori ruins in order to restart the process to create the Namikaze Farm.

Due to the high number of clones Harry had running around taking care of things, his intensive daily training sessions and mission schedule, and the large amounts of magic Harry was throwing about, Harry would fall into bed each night exhausted. He was practically running himself into the ground each day in his efforts to take care of everything that he personally needed to take care of and it left him very little time to spend with his family. Dudley and Eloise were just as busy (though Eloise's days were more of a mental workout for her as she had to think of the baby she was carrying). And while Naruto had training and missions to keep him occupied, he was still no where near as busy as any of the adults.

Poor Teddy ended up with the short end of the stick. Naruto spent time with the three year old when he could but it was no where near as much time as he spent with the younger boy before he'd become a shinobi. Harry hardly ever saw either of the boys and the clones he had running around just weren't the same as spending time with the wizard. All Harry could do was promise to spend more time with both of them once the restaurant, their new apartments, and the estate were finished. Naruto accepted and understood the situation but Teddy was extremely unhappy; the toddler used to spending far more time with his godfather slash adopted father and honorary big brother.

The only break in the family's routine during the month of December came on the twenty-fifth when the entire family took the day off to celebrate the Christmas holiday. There was no training, no missions, no construction work, and not a single Namikaze clone anywhere in sight during the entire day. Gifts were exchanged, food was consumed, and Teddy was appeased. The rest of the village held its breath because a silent and unseen Namikaze meant a plotting and pranking Namikaze in this day and age and everyone was looking over their shoulders in worry.

It was back to business as usual on Boxing Day and while the Namikaze family felt far more relaxed than they had in months, the rest of the village kept watching over their collective shoulders for the expected prank – that never came.

The last few days of December passed fairly quickly for Harry and he probably would have never noticed the end of year festivities if not for the fact that the entire village seemed to grind to a halt in order to celebrate. And there was much for the village to celebrate this year; the return of the Namikaze family had brought prosperity back to the village along with a large influx of cash and ready work that revived the dying economy across the board. Shinobi and civilians alike shared the new prosperity equally since the temporary jobs they'd generated were spread about evenly between both sectors and the eventual permanent full and part time jobs they would be offering would be similarly divided.

The end of the year also marked the end of Harry's remedial academic classes; his education now on par with that of the average Chuunin. For Naruto, the end of the year marked the end of his time as the sole Genin on Kakashi's team as his new teammates were very carefully selected from the graduating Academy students. His first teammate was a fourteen year old boy by the name of Ikeda Housei with short spiky hair who preferred to dress in all black and wore mesh armor beneath his cloths. The kunoichi assigned to his team was twelve year old Tanaka Midori; she had shoulder length brown hair that she wore in a pair of low ponytails and she wore dark blue pants that ended just below the knee with a light blue shirt that hung down to the middle of her thighs.

Both older Genin were orphans from the shinobi sector (meaning one or both of their parents had been shinobi before they died) and had never really interacted with Naruto prior to his three year trip to the outer countries. They were also fairly serious about their shinobi careers, were amongst the top students of their graduating class, and because neither of them were from a clan, both new Genin could be molded and trained so that their skills would compliment and support Naruto. Kakashi had actually spent two weeks observing those Academy students slated to take the Graduation Exam in order to select the two individuals that would have the greatest chance of working well with Naruto (if only because he had no desire to draw Harry's ire should the teammates he picked attempt to bully or belittle Naruto).

Naruto introduced both older Genin to Harry through one of Harry's Kage Bunshin (because he hadn't been able to track down his cousin at the time) the same day he had been introduced to them. Harry would take the time to schedule a lunchtime meeting so he could meet the two kids properly about a week later (after he had a couple of clones watch the newly formed team's training sessions a couple of times). The wizard found himself approving Kakashi's choices and readily told Naruto that they would be welcome to join them for meals anytime so long as the blond sent a clone ahead to warn the elves to keep out of sight.

As the end of January drew near, Harry slowly began to lose contact with the wizarding world; his focus entirely on the new life he was creating for himself within the Elemental Countries. It didn't help that he'd barely had any time to write to any of the friends and family he'd left behind, though he had made it a point when he first arrived to diligently write everyone at least one letter a week (a task he'd taken to delegating to a clone due to how little free time he had).

By the time January rolled around though, he'd taken to writing every other week and writing group letters as opposed to individual letters. His elves still brought him news every now and then as well but their duties didn't really leave them much time to visit the wizarding world when they were outside of the barrier separating the Elemental Countries and the Outer Countries.

Near the middle of February, Harry had made arrangements through elf-post to convert another quarter of his vast fortune over to tradable commodities and ryō as he slowly began depositing his money into several accounts with the three local banks within the village (the Konoha Credit Union, the Bank of Konoha, and Hi no Kuni's National Bank). Each bank handled different accounts; the credit union handled Harry and Naruto's work accounts where they would deposit their shinobi paychecks and mission pay, the Bank of Konoha held the official Namikaze family account and personal accounts for each member of the family, and the National Bank handled the business accounts for the Namikaze family.

Splitting his fortune up between the three banks and between the numerous accounts also had the benefit of making it harder for anyone to figure out just how rich the Namikaze family was. That didn't include the wealth of commodities that Harry had stashed in a number of secret (and well warded) hidey-holes in each of the buildings their family now owned or the ready pile of cash that the wizard kept on hand for their day to day needs. That also wasn't taking into consideration the not so small fortune that Harry had spent on building supplies and materials on both sides of the portal over the past six to eight weeks or the small fortune he'd forked out to purchase the apartment complex and the other properties.

Harry would later regret losing touch with the wizarding world but he had been so caught up in his new life and the freedom that had come with it that he did not immediately notice that he was drifting away from the world that had been his entire life for eight years.

* * *

**Translations:** Japanese to English

Gaki – brat  
Mendoukusei – how troublesome, what a drag, or this sucks

**Notes:**

My chakra theories – yes, I know that the official Naruto verse stance is that yin chakra is the spiritual/mental energy of a person while the yang chakra is the physical energy but in order for my concept of what happened the night of the Kyuubi's attack to work, I needed yin and yang to be different from the energies that make up chakra. Magic will be something different as well… meaning no, the natural energy that is gathered as part of the senjutsu arts and magic won't be the same thing and Harry won't be an automatic Sage because of his mastery over magic.

Throughout most of my HP x Naruto crossovers, I've always maintained that chakra and magic are two completely different birds that have similar properties with this story being the second time that I've explored the potential of chakra and magic being able to coexist where as all of my other crossovers for these two categories have always had magic supplanting chakra except when things go wrong. Magic will be explained in more detail later in the story… that's on top of the bit I touched on earlier in the story when Harry explained magic to Naruto.

Naruto's teammates – Housei was one of the Konoha Genin that quit when Ibiki gave the tenth question during the written portion of the Chuunin Exams; all I did was shave a couple of years off of his age and give him different teammates. Midori, on the other hand, only appears in one of the Naruto games and may or may not be considered a canon character (she is not to be confused with the Midori from Kusagakure, who was actually male). Her age and appearance were both randomly chosen as I don't own the game in question and the wiki didn't give much of a description and didn't have any pictures of her. Both of their last names were drawn out of a hat.

Harry's Information Dump – I am sure that more than a few people will be unhappy with how much information that Harry provided to the shinobi but the reason for it was already explained within the chapter; he knows that he has to offer up a measure of trust if he expects to be trusted in return. His oath will also have played a part in coaxing him into giving up a bit more information than planned but it didn't actually force him to reveal anything; which is why it wasn't mentioned in the story. He also has the option to use the Fidelius Charm to make them forget if the knowledge that he provided to them ever places his family in peril.

* * *

**10-25-15:** _Minor edits made to chapter to fix spelling/grammar mistakes and removed unnecessary author's notes._


	22. A Year in Review

**Disclaimer:** _All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies and all Naruto characters are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites._

**Warnings:** _AU for parts of both worlds (i.e. kiss canon goodbye), mild character bashing, mild to moderate violence (there are shinobi involved after all), and a few others that will be announced as they crop up. _

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

**Chapter 22: A Year in Review**

_Tuesday, December 31, 2002, Late Night  
Konohagakure no Sato, Hi no Kuni_

Naruto shared a grin with Housei and Midori as the three Genin made themselves comfortable on one of the third floor balconies that overlooked the small yard that belonged to Namikaze's Wheelhouse (a very successful and very popular restaurant from the moment it had opened its doors to the public five months earlier). The small Namikaze family was preparing to bring in the New Year with their now traditional holiday display of fantastical fireworks. The employees that worked for the Wheelhouse, the Namikaze Ranch, and the Namikaze Orchard Farm had all been invited to join the family; as had Naruto's teammates, Harry's Jounin mentor, and a number of individuals that Harry and Arata had befriended.

The party had started the moment the restaurant had closed its doors to the public at eight sharp; Arata had closed the restaurant two hours earlier than usual for the occasion. There had been live entertainment (music and dancing), plenty of food and drinks, and a bunch of carnival games that had been set up in the small yard behind the building (for all of the children present). The fireworks were set to go off at exactly midnight and all of the rear-facing balconies of the building (on all three of the top floors) were packed with those that had accepted the invitation.

As he waited for midnight to roll around, Naruto reflected on everything that had changed over the past year.

First, he'd not only finally met his new teammates but he'd quickly befriended them. All three of them had just clicked within the first few weeks as Kakashi-sensei trained them into the ground to turn them into a real team. Naruto was the team's heavy hitter and close range fighter, Midori was a mid range fighter with excellent accuracy when it came to shurikenjutsu and doton jutsu (the kunoichi had an earth affinity, though it was currently untested), and Housei was the team's medic in training (he had excellent chakra control and was very knowledgeable when it came to first aide) and long range support. The D Ranked missions they took still sucked but sharing the work with his teammates had made them far more bearable.

After the first month, both Housei and Midori started hanging out more with Naruto after training and missions. By the end of the second month, both of them would spend three to four nights a week camping out with Naruto either beside the wagons or in his new bedroom once the renovations were completed at the end of March. By the fifth month, Harry had given both Housei and Midori permission to move into the family flat; going so far as to give them each their own room. His cousin often complained about the number of brats underfoot but Naruto knew that Harry had grown rather fond of his two teammates and treated them like family because they were Naruto's friends and teammates; something both older Genin appreciated.

Then there was Kakashi-sensei. The man had become something of an uncle to Naruto during the weeks that they'd spent as a two man team and that hadn't changed even after Housei and Midori joined them. In fact, both of the older Genin looked up to the silver-haired man almost as much as they did Harry. Naruto knew that part of the reason he'd accepted Kakashi had been because of the stories that his father's ghost had told him about the Jounin and that the rest of it was the fact that the man actually took the time to teach and train him. Of course, it didn't hurt that Harry got along reasonably well with the man (though they weren't exactly friends).

The next change had been the slow and gradual change in attitude that Harry had gone through. When they first arrived, Harry had been tense and irritable and Naruto knew it was because Harry was unhappy that he'd needed to bring Naruto back to the village that had hurt him so badly. The longer they stayed in the village though, the more relaxed Harry grew as it became obvious that the village had changed during the three years that Naruto had been absent. The fact that Harry was always so busy training, doing missions, and working with Arata to get everything set up also meant that his cousin had little energy left over to maintain his grudge against Konoha.

It helped that there were no overzealous fans to hound him everywhere he went and no vindictive reporters tracking his every move hoping to rip his reputation apart.

Harry had even made friends amongst the other shinobi over the past year, including; Yamato, Iruka-sensei, Uzuki Yuugao (whom Naruto was pretty certain was AnBu Guard Neko and one of Harry's watchers), and oddly enough Nara Shikaku. His cousin was friendly with Kakashi, Maito Gai, and Morino Ibiki as well but he wasn't exactly friends with any of them. He also got along alright with old man Teuchi and his daughter Ayame from Ichiraku's, though Teuchi seemed to disapprove of the fact that Harry was a single father.

Or rather, Teuchi disliked the fact that Ayame had a very obvious crush on his cousin.

There were actually quite a few young women and teenaged girls that were mooning after Harry. Thankfully, they didn't follow Harry around and try to mob his cousin like the fan-girls had back in England but their giggles were still annoying and Harry still avoided them whenever as possible. The only girl that seemed determined to hate Harry and that Harry in turn ignored completely was Mitarashi Anko. Of course, Naruto's ongoing feud with the violent kunoichi probably hadn't helped matters there but the woman still hadn't apologized for attacking Harry and scaring Teddy.

It had been more than a little amusing to see the uncomfortable look on Harry's face when most of the girls he knew (and more than a few he didn't know) had all given him chocolate for Valentine's day. At the end of the day, Harry had stared at the massive pile of chocolate like it was some sort of monster. Naruto had then watched as Harry tested each and every single piece of chocolate for poison or drugs. That was also the day that he learned that a fan-girl once tried to dose Harry with a love potion by giving him potion laced sweets and that it was actually Ron that had eaten them and been caught by the potion.

Once all of the chocolate had been found clean, Harry noted down the names of every girl that had given him something so that he could give them all friendship or thank you tokens in return on White Day. Harry then pawned most of the chocolates off on Naruto and told him to share it with his friends. In fact, Naruto knew that Harry had kept only one of the chocolate gifts he'd been given; he just had no clue whose gift he'd kept or why he'd chosen that particular gift to keep (whether it was because of who had given it to him or because of the gift itself).

Teddy had changed a bit too; the four year old had had a hard time adjusting to seeing so little of Naruto and Harry while both shinobi were training and working. Once Harry had enrolled Teddy in one of the better preschools (one that was most assuredly _not_ associated with the Shinobi Academy), the younger boy had had an easier time dealing with the separation as he now had other children to distract him along with a chance to learn new things. Once the bulk of the work had been done in regards to the restaurant, the family apartments, and the new estate, Harry had more free time to spend with the family and that had made the biggest difference in how quickly Teddy adjusted to life in Konoha.

Then there was Arata and Eri's little daughter, Namikaze Aika, who'd been born in the middle of the afternoon on May thirtieth. Aika had her mother's curly black hair and the Namikaze's trademark sapphire eyes (the very same shade as Naruto's); she was also undoubtedly a witch. Naruto couldn't believe how tiny Aika looked when she'd first been born and he'd been scared to death of holding her out of fear he'd hurt her. All three adults had helped him get over that real quick; Harry providing a shadow clone henged to look exactly like Aika while Arata and Eri instructed him on the proper way to hold a newborn. Naruto soon grew to love holding the little baby as much as he loved playing around with Teddy.

The opening of the restaurant and the relative completion of the Namikaze Estate (which included the Ranch, the Orchard Farm, the Retreat – a relaxing place for any of the family to go for privacy, and the new training grounds) had been a big deal for the Namikaze family. Getting things at the Estate up and running signified that the Namikaze family was in Konoha to stay; for better or for worse. The opening of the restaurant (and the completion of the living quarters above) only proved that they were serious about making Konoha their home.

There was no doubt in Naruto's mind that the past year had been far better than he'd ever expected it to be. His biggest fear before they'd finally reached Konoha fifteen months ago had been that things would be exactly the way they were when he'd left three years earlier. Seeing for himself just how much the village had changed had been an eye opening experience. Sure, there were still a number of civilians that glared at him and occasionally insulted him but things never went any further than that thanks to the new laws, Naruto's new last name (and his connection to the Yondaime), and largely thanks to Harry glaring and lambasting the offenders into submission.

As Naruto's eyes were drawn to the night sky when the first rocket exploded outwards to form the burning image of a blue and white hippogriff, he supposed that the biggest change that had occurred over the past year was the fact that he'd once again began to consider Konoha home. He was also certain that the only reason he saw the village as home now was because he was no longer alone and he'd come to understand that home would always be where his family lived.

* * *

_Tuesday, December 31, 2002, Late Night  
Konohagakure no Sato, Hi no Kuni_

Twenty year old Uzuki Yuugao (aka AnBu Guard Neko) shifted minutely as she watched Namikaze Takeshi double check the rocket launchers that would fire the fireworks he'd prepared for the evening into the night sky. Since the day she'd been assigned as one of Takeshi's watchers fifteen months ago, she'd found herself slowly being drawn to the man despite her efforts to remain professionally aloof. There was just something about the green-eyed man that had captured her attention and firmly kept hold of it.

At first, she'd thought her interest with the man had to do with the level of threat he represented to the village as an unknown entity. That assumption was proved false the moment it became apparent that her interest in the man continued to grow long after it became clear that the man wasn't a threat at all; unless you were stupid enough to piss him off by insulting or harming his family. Then she'd figured that maybe it was simply because the man was practically royalty due to his familial ties with the Yondaime Hokage and therefore a potential target for the Yondaime's old enemies.

That too had been proven untrue as it became clear over time that the man was capable of not only protecting himself but his family as well.

It wasn't until after her fourth month as one of Takeshi's watchers that Yuugao finally admitted to herself that she was fascinated by the man's determination, drive, and dedication. The more she watched him, the more she wished to know him. She'd actually gone out of her way to avoid crossing his path while out of her mask for the first six months the man had been in the village; hoping that whatever it was that drew her to him would eventually vanish. It hadn't. She'd even given him chocolates on Valentine's Day, though she'd not put her name on the gift.

She knew that her gift had been the only gift that he'd kept; she'd been on duty watching him at the time. She suspected the cat silhouette etched onto the small squares of fancy candies had been enough of a clue for him to figure out who'd sent them. The beautifully sculpted chocolate cat (made from a mix of dark, milk, and white chocolate) that she received anonymously on White Day confirmed her suspicions. The crystallized emerald green sugar eyes gave it away as did the fact that the cat looked like one of the strange lion-like cats that the Namikaze family kept as pets.

She never did work up the courage to eat the beautiful creation; she had sealed it into a special storage scroll with a preservation seal instead.

When she finally had stumbled across him without her mask and armor, she'd felt naked and vulnerable when his gem-like emerald eyes had locked with hers. It was not a feeling that Yuugao particularly enjoyed; she was a kunoichi after all and she was not weak just because she was a woman. Just when the moment could have turned awkward, Takeshi had smiled that crooked half smile he tended to wear when he was pleased with something as he gave her a respectful nod and told her that she had beautiful hair and unforgettable eyes before he'd continued on his way.

The kunoichi in her knew that the man had just blatantly revealed that he knew that she was one of his watchers while the woman in her had preened under the sincere compliments.

Now, Yuugao was not vain but she was well aware that she was pretty. She'd never lacked attention from men wherever she went; especially from her fellow shinobi since shinobi were often attracted to strong women whereas civilians were more often than not intimidated by them. She could easily have her pick of men and had on more than one occasion slept with those men that had caught her attention with their skills, their looks, or their unorthodox attempts to draw her interest. The purple haired kunoichi had, in fact, been seriously entertaining the idea of hooking up with Gekkou Hayate on a more permanent basis around the time the Namikaze family had arrived in the village. She'd become rather close to Hayate during the months that he'd trained with her to help her improve her kenjutsu.

All thoughts of entering into a relationship with Hayate had fled not long after she'd started watching Takeshi.

Hayate didn't hold her change of heart against her; he'd actually been the one who'd been the most hesitant about entering into a relationship with her due to the chronic illness he suffered from. Any time she'd mentioned the two of them going out, he'd mutter something about being cursed and her deserving happiness and a chance at a future. She'd been in the process of wearing him down and if she'd not found herself distracted by Takeshi, she probably would have been living with Hayate by now. She still trained with Hayate when she had time and the two of them were still close friends; Yuugao just wasn't interested in him romantically any longer.

In fact, Yuugao hadn't slept with any man since before she'd been assigned to Takeshi's guard. Nor had any other man caught her eye no matter how many had tried over the past year. No, for some inexplicable reason, Yuugao only had eyes for Takeshi. And not just because he was easy on the eyes; the man was skilled (despite only being half trained), he was intelligent, he had a twisted sense of humor, and he didn't take shit from anyone (not even from the loyal two members of the Sannin or the Hokage).

The second time she'd run into Takeshi while off duty, she'd just stepped out of the market with a small bag of groceries when she'd been bowled over unexpectedly by someone ramming into the back of her knees. She'd wound up falling backwards over the perpetrator and spilling her groceries all over her, her attacker, and the ground. Thankfully, she'd not cracked her head on the ground or she'd have been in some serious trouble. Yuugao had growled under her breath and sat up just enough to glare at her attacker (who had been trapped under her legs) only to freeze the moment she saw familiar green eyes wide with fright set in a face that was white as a sheet and covered with raw eggs and egg shells.

Naruto had skidded to a stop right beside the pair a second later to extract the strangely silent kid from beneath Yuugao who hadn't known exactly how to react once she knew who'd knocked her over. She had been helped to her feet the moment Takeshi's son had been lifted free by none other than Takeshi himself before the man had gone on to clean up her spilled purchases. He'd then apologized for his son's recklessness and offered to replace those items that had been ruined (such as the eggs that had been smashed in her hair and on the kid). He'd even done something to clean her hair and clothes to get the egg out before it dried (which would have made it near impossible to get out).

Yuugao didn't think she'd ever been so embarrassed in all her life.

Two days later, Namikaze Satoshi had shyly walked up to her carrying a handful of freshly picked wildflowers and a hand drawn card that he gave to her along with a timid apology before he disappeared. She'd seen a second flash of blond a little further down the street and suspected that it had been Naruto who prompted the child to apologize with the small homemade gift. From that day forward, she would continue to run into Takeshi at least once a week when off duty and he always offered a friendly smile and a polite greeting which she always returned.

It wasn't until after Yamato had asked her for a favor that Yuugao really began spending time with the Namikaze family head while out of her mask. The favor turned out to be helping the green eyed man with his kenjutsu; specifically pitting his style of fighting with a broadsword against a high level katana user (which Yamato was not). She even ended up helping the man with his other sword fighting styles and taught him a few chakra based attacks that could be used with a sword. In return, Takeshi had offered to teach her how to fight with a sword from the back of a horse.

Of course, she'd needed to learn how to ride a horse first.

By the time she'd been deemed a competent enough rider to start learning to wield a sword on horseback, the two of them had become friends. There was no one day that she could look back on and say that that was the day she'd befriended Takeshi as the process of going from watch guard to training and sparring partner to friend had been a gradual one. In some ways, Yuugao felt like she'd been friends with the man for her entire life; it just felt right. And she couldn't find it in herself to regret befriending the slightly older man despite knowing that he was still on the AnBu watch list and that she was still required to monitor his every move eight hours per day.

She'd only made one attempt to have the Hokage remove her from Takeshi's AnBu Guard due to her unprofessional feelings for her charge but the Sandaime had told her that he had faith in her ability to not let her feelings interfere with her duty since a lesser shinobi would have tried to hide their attachment rather than step forward and admit to it.

That had been four months ago and the twenty year old kunoichi had been irritated for days after that… right up until Takeshi had thrust a small box wrapped in brown butcher's paper into her hands as he passed on her on the street. When she'd unwrapped and opened the box, she'd found a single serving of an unfamiliar chocolate creation. She'd debated for hours over whether or not to actually eat the gift or save it like she had the chocolate cat but eventually caved when the heavenly scent of chocolate broke her resolve to resist indulging.

Yuugao had never tasted anything so sinfully delicious.

The different textures scattered throughout the delectable dessert combined with the warm, rich flavor of the different types of chocolates that formed the creation had been mind blowing. By the time she'd finished the final bite, Yuugao had been almost one hundred percent certain that the chocolate dessert had been better than sex when it came to washing away tension and frustration. The only complaint she had in regards to the treat had been the fact that it had only been a single serving.

She would later learn that Takeshi had been handing out free samples of the various desserts that the new Namikaze restaurant would be serving in the future to random people. She'd been a little upset that the gift hadn't been anything special until she learned that she was the only one who'd been given a sample of that sinful chocolate confection. She'd been further shocked to learn (from a conspiratorial Eri) that Takeshi had personally made the small cake he'd given her unlike the rest of the dessert samples that had been made by their chefs. Sure, she'd heard Yamato practically rave about Takeshi's cooking skills (especially when it came to camp food) but she'd been certain that her fellow AnBu Guard had been exaggerating.

Yuugao's attention was brought back to the present when the subject of her reflection turned to face her as he set off the first rocket and grinningly announced, "Happy New Year."

"Happy New Year, Takeshi," Yuugao replied as she gave the man an answering smile as she was bathed in blue and white light as the firework exploded in the air above them; all the while wondering just when her heart had given itself to the green-eyed shinobi and if there was a chance that he might be interested in her in a romantic sense.

* * *

_Tuesday, December 31, 2002, Late Night  
Konohagakure no Sato, Hi no Kuni_

Yamaguchi Jiraiya (the Gama Sennin, one of the Densetsu no Sannin, renowned fuuinjutsu master, and self proclaimed super pervert) made himself comfortable on the roof he'd determined would have the best view from which to indulge in his favorite pastime; people watching. And contrary to popular opinion, he didn't just utilize his people watching skills to peep on naked women (though he certainly enjoyed watching naked women every chance he got). No, Jiraiya was an expert at reading all people, regardless of their age or gender, and he'd become an expert by watching people from all walks of life doing every imaginable activity and a few not so imaginable activities.

That ability coupled with the affable, open, and slightly naïve persona he'd built for himself along with his in your face perverted-ness was what made him an effective spymaster. It also made it far easier for people to dismiss him as a hopeless has-been rather than a dangerous shinobi still in his prime. Of course, that approach rarely worked on those that were intimately familiar with his reputation as one of the Sannin. Jiraiya had prided himself on being good at what he did and took pride in the skills he'd learned and refined over the years.

It had therefore been quite a blow to his ego when he'd been unable to find hide or hair of his missing godson after the kid had gone missing just a few months after his eighth birthday.

There was nothing he hated more than failure.

Failure meant that he lacked some essential skill. Failure meant that he still wasn't good enough. Failure meant that his precious people paid for his mistakes and weaknesses.

No, there was nothing more he hated than failing.

And in many ways, Naruto represented his biggest failures.

He had failed to stop an enemy from ripping the Kyuubi out of Kushina. He had failed to stop Minato from sacrificing his life to reseal the Kyuubi. He'd failed to fulfill his duties as the boy's godfather (not that he'd had much choice at the time). He'd failed to make certain the kid was being properly taken care of whenever he was in the village. He'd failed to see the plots that were being carried out against the boy right under Sarutobi's nose. And he'd failed to find any sign of his missing godson outside of the village. Hell, he'd even failed to pick up on the fact that the little gaki was back in Konoha until Sarutobi had summoned him back to the village roughly fifteen months ago.

Shoving aside that line of thinking (least it lead him to depression and drowning his sorrows in sake), Jiraiya focused once more on the owners of the unexpectedly popular restaurant that had just opened up a few months earlier while his sharp eyes noted the number of people that had been invited to the Namikaze's New Year Celebration.

Namikaze Arata looked like a washed out copy of Minato with a rather friendly disposition and none of the spark that had defined Minato. That wasn't to say the man wasn't charismatic or outgoing, he was; he just lacked that little special something that had set Minato apart from other shinobi his age. Part of that, Jiraiya supposed, could be attributed to the fact that Arata's chakra coils were damaged. The rest could easily be laid at the feet of his childhood. The man also wasn't afraid to get his hands dirty as he worked for his dreams and his future.

Next was Arata's pretty little wife; the vivacious and friendly if slightly shy Namikaze Eri. She wasn't a stunning beauty or even a dangerous beauty but she held a charm all her own. The young woman had made friends fairly easily once she'd settled into her new life in Konoha. It had also quickly become clear that Eri loved children; the way she doted on Naruto, Satoshi, and her newborn daughter every chance she got very obvious. Her interactions with the other young children that frequented the play parks where she took the young Satoshi to play were also very telling; as was the fact that she happily volunteered her time to help out at the preschool where Satoshi was currently enrolled.

And then there was the enigmatic Namikaze Takeshi. A man who looked nothing like a Namikaze but at the same time embodied everything that made a Namikaze a Namikaze. If Arata lacked Minato's spark, then Takeshi had inherited that spark twice over. He was charismatic, intelligent, creative, hard working, stubborn beyond belief, had a fearsome temper, was brimming with determination, and had a penchant for causing mass destruction and chaos. He was also mistrusting, highly skeptical, more than a little cynical, rather defensive, secretive, and difficult to read at times.

And still a virgin at age twenty-two; something that baffled and nearly horrified Jiraiya.

It also amused him because he enjoyed teasing Takeshi about his virginity. He wasn't certain that he liked the counter pranking said teasing earned him in response. It had taken him months to get all of the pink die out of his hair. And he had not enjoyed having his clothes dusted with a transparent and odorless itching powder. Waking up to find himself half naked, coated in green slime, and dangling upside down out of the left nostril of his sensei's face on the Hokage Monument hadn't been all that thrilling either.

Despite those incidents, Jiraiya still rather liked the prickly young man.

Takeshi's unorthodox approach to fuuinjutsu was also rather fascinating and the man's innovative use of seals had stirred Jiraiya's own love of fuuinjutsu. In fact, every time Jiraiya had returned to the village over the past fifteen months, he had sought out the younger man to talk shop with him and check out his latest projects. His favorite one was the special boots that allowed one to move safely over unstable surfaces without causing an unwanted level of noise or using an ungodly amount of chakra to make them work. His second favorite one was the specialized array that suppressed chakra signatures to the point where someone with large reserves was undetectable until you were practically on top of them.

Then there were the rather impressive barriers that Takeshi had put up around all of the Namikaze properties (including Minato's old house) that could prevent both the Byakugan and the Sharingan from spying on their properties. There was also a rather complex barrier that prevented those who wished to spy on the family or who meant the family harm from even setting foot on the property. In fact, those barriers had caught a spy from Iwa that had been sent to confirm the small handful of rumors that had filtered out of the village about the return of the Namikaze Clan about five months ago.

The young head of the Namikaze family had not been impressed when he'd caught the spy and learned what he had been looking for. The man, who was a very experienced Jounin level spy, had been a blubbering mess when Takeshi had personally delivered him to Ibiki the next morning. According to what Jiraiya had read in Ibiki's report later, the man had begged to be allowed to confess to everything in exchange for protection from Namikaze Takeshi. Takeshi's report on the incident hadn't really shed any light on what he'd done to the man and the twenty-two year old had been tight-lipped about the matter.

Though the feral smirk he'd flashed each time he'd been asked about the matter had said volumes; as had the cold look in the young man's eyes.

Jiraiya sat up a bit, dug a bottle of sake and a saucer out of his vest, and poured himself a shot of sake as he tried not to think about the discussion he'd had with the young Chuunin regarding Naruto's training; or more specifically, the look in Takeshi's eyes during that discussion. Those leaf green eyes had promised pain and humiliation beyond anything he'd ever experienced that was in direct contrast to the pleasant tone the man had used at the time. There had been a lot of words exchanged during that conversation but it had all boiled down to one thing.

If Jiraiya corrupted Naruto's innocence, if he in anyway neglected Naruto's training, or if anything he did or failed to do was in any way responsible for Naruto being hurt (beyond the expected bruises and scrapes that were part of training), then Jiraiya was a dead man.

Jiraiya knocked back his shot of sake and poured another as he contemplated the knife's edge he was now standing on while his eyes remained fixed on the crowd of individuals packed into the balconies of the building less than ten yards from where he was sitting. He'd decided, after watching the small Namikaze family for the past year, that he would wait another year before he took Naruto as his apprentice; a decision that had prompted his discussion with Takeshi. His reasoning at the time was that he hadn't wanted to pull his godson away from his teammates when the boy was thriving under Kakashi's tutelage.

Putting it off another year would also give him a chance to actually find something to teach the gaki; seeing as how Minato's shade had taught the kid everything Jiraiya had planned to teach him (such as the Rasengan). He supposed he could let Naruto sign the Toad Contract and teach him summoning but that wouldn't take much. It certainly wouldn't necessitate the two or three year long journey that he'd originally intended to take his godson on while training him. That, of course, had been long before he'd met Naruto's overprotective and temperamental older cousin.

In fact, Jiraiya suspected that Takeshi would take exception to Jiraiya even thinking about removing the bewhiskered boy from the village for an extended training trip.

_Maybe I should consider breaking Naruto's training into smaller sessions,_ Jiraiya mused to himself as he poured a third shot of sake as the first firework of the night was launched into the sky where it exploded into a blue and white mythical creature that pranced gracefully across the night sky. _I could teach him a little something each time I'm in the village and take him out on short training trips to teach him those things that can only be taught outside of the village. Such as how to draw out and use the Kyuubi's chakra; which is something that Takeshi will also need to be trained in at some point as well._

Yeah, he could work with that.

* * *

_Tuesday, December 31, 2002, Late Night  
Konohagakure no Sato, Hi no Kuni_

Namikaze Arata (formerly Dudley Dursley) wrapped his arm around his beautiful wife's shoulder as she leaned into his side; their precious little Aika cradled in Eri's arms as they cuddled on the couch he'd moved out onto the their private balcony to watch the firework display.

Reaching out to gently brush his fingers through Aika's silky black locks, Arata couldn't help but think that he was the luckiest man alive. He had a beautiful wife, a beautiful daughter, was the half owner and manager of what was promising to be a successful restaurant, lived in a luxurious apartment that he owned jointly with his cousin, and his past reputation as a bully had not followed him to his new life. Yes, putting his life in the hands of his cousin had been the best decision that he'd ever made.

He also knew that he'd in no way taken the easy road in life. He'd busted his ass to get where he was now and he'd done it without a single word of complaint. Having Eri's constant support and encouragement over his efforts and decisions certainly hadn't hurt either. The old Dudley never would have made it this far; he would not have wasted the energy to work for something he felt he deserved to be handed to him on a silver platter. The old Dudley had died over the course of his fifth and sixth years at Smeltings Academy though.

His parents had never understood what had happened to him in the summer before his fifth year, when those dementor things had forced him to relive his worst memories and nearly sucked out his soul. They'd constantly fought against the changes he was going through as he grew up and matured out of their sight during the two school years following that horrid attack. The year they'd spent in protective custody while Harry risked his life to end the magical war had been full of revelations as well. The first of which had been the way his eyes had been opened to just how bigoted and short sighted his parents really were.

Seeing his parents repeat history the day that Naruto turned up on their doorstep out of the blue had been the final straw for Arata. He refused to stand by and allow his parents to abuse another child. The decision to contact Harry for help had set off the chain of events that had led him to his current point in life and Arata knew that he owed both of his younger cousins more than just simple gratitude for their acceptance of him. By rights, Harry should have hexed him black and blue for daring to ask him for help because of the trouble that his parents were attempting to stir up. That Harry hadn't turned his back on him, laughed in his face, or cursed him in some way only emphasized that his cousin had always been the better man despite the way the Dursleys had treated him… or maybe it was just to spite the Dursleys.

Either way, Arata appreciated the fact that his cousin had not only given him a chance but had accepted him as family.

His precious Eloise… his Eri… had praised him for his courage. If not for Eri, he didn't think he'd have had the courage to approach Harry in the first place. It had been the need to protect his then girlfriend from his parents that had made him swallow his pride and ignore his insecurities in order to ask Harry for help. And help them Harry had. The wizard hadn't just given him handouts to solve his problems though. No, Harry had given Arata something far more precious than mere money; a chance to truly make something of himself.

The year and a half of intense education had been hard but worth it as he worked towards the dream he shared with Eri of their future. He couldn't count the number of times he'd feared that he'd never be good enough for Eri; that he'd fail her in some way but those fears had not come to pass. There had also been times when he feared that Harry's trust in him had been misplaced and that the wizard would come to regret ever agreeing to help Arata but he hadn't. In fact, the more time that the two of them spent together the more comfortable the two of them became with one another.

Arata had also found that his trust in Harry hadn't been misplaced either.

Harry had never once looked down on him for any reason. He'd never threatened to cut him off if the two of them had a disagreement. He also never tried to give Arata the short end of the stick when it came to their partnership. Arata had had an equal say in all matters regarding the restaurant and their family, even if Harry had the final word in their family; the wizard had stepped forward as the head of the family right from the start. Something Arata didn't mind despite the fact that he was a month older than Harry; it helped that Harry listened to everyone's suggestions and did what was best for the family, not just what was best for Harry.

This past year had really opened his eyes to just how far Harry would go for family. The wizard turned shinobi had driven himself into the ground day in and day out in order to do what had to be done to see the family taken care of in their new home. That was on top of everything his cousin had to do to insure that their place in Konoha wasn't jeopardized; which included subjecting himself to what Arata considered rather brutal training that pushed Harry to his limits more often than not. The only reason why Arata hadn't stepped in was because he knew that his cousin had known exactly what he'd been getting into the moment he'd decided to take up the life of a shinobi.

Arata did insure that Naruto wasn't being similarly driven into the ground. The rambunctious blond was thriving though; especially now that he had a couple of friends near his own age that he trained with and hung out with after and between missions. That those friends had quickly become part of their family had not really been all that surprising to Arata given Naruto's open and friendly personality coupled with his uncanny ability to form connections to the people with whom he interacted over a relatively short period of time. Yet another thing that Naruto had in common with Harry.

Kakashi had turned out to be very mindful of both Naruto's age and Harry's temper. Arata thought the older man did rather well considering just how protective Harry had become of their mutual cousin over the years. Unlike Harry, who didn't really have time to get to know the silver-haired Jounin, Arata had befriended the somewhat anti-social man halfway through the previous year.

They had bonded over one of Naruto's more memorable pranks (where said blond had managed to turn Mitarashi Anko's trench coat pink with bright yellow flowers, put her hair into pigtails, paint her face with make up to make her look like a little kid, and swap out her favorite kunai for an overly cute purple teddy bear). Kakashi had actually watched Naruto pull off the prank while Arata had observed all of the planning and work that had gone into final product.

The other friends that Arata had made had all been from the civilian sector; Kanzaki Teuchi and his daughter Ayame, the manager of the Bank of Konoha, the owners of several markets, some of the men he'd hired to renovate the apartment complex that Harry had purchased, a few of their neighbors that had appreciated the fact that they were cleaning up the decrepit apartment building, and several of their employees. The only reason why he didn't have more friends from the shinobi sector was due to the fact that most of the people he interacted with were civilians while Harry was the one that tended to deal with the shinobi.

Things on the business front had been just as well as those in this personal life, if not better. Harry had managed to procure the deed to the perfect property, even if it had needed to be completely gutted and practically rebuilt from the ground up. The wizard had then managed to find them some prime real-estate for the farm they'd discussed running in order to grow a selection of produce that was either not found in the Elemental Countries or that was too expensive to import into Konoha on a regular basis. The Namikaze name and the Potter-Black Fortune had then opened all kinds of doors for them as they set to work building their future.

That had been Arata's time to shine as he put his hard won education to work on top of getting his hands dirty in order to turn the building that he and Harry had purchased into the restaurant it was now. Sure, Harry had been in the background helping when and where he could but it had been Arata that had managed everything to make certain they didn't miss or skip an important step. Eri had done a share of the work as well; his wife had added the finishing touches that gave the restaurant its rustic ambiance.

Interviewing prospective employees and seeing to it that they were given the training they needed had been a headache and a half. Those that thought themselves above needing training and those that caused trouble with the majority of the other employees (or with the family) didn't last very long. Thankfully, most of the people that they ended up hiring were willing to cooperate though and after weeks of training and preparation they worked really well together. Thinking about his employees, Arata absently recalled all of the times he'd heard his father badmouth the people he worked with and the twenty-two year old wondered how his father had managed to hold onto his job for so long with his deplorable attitude.

Arata's ruminations were interrupted at that point when the first rocket was launched into the sky to paint the heavens with blue and white light that depicted a large creature that was half horse and half eagle. He then turned to the side to give his wife a chaste kiss as he wished her a Happy New Year. A second kiss was placed upon the brow of his sleeping daughter a heartbeat later.

Yeah, he was happy with his lot in life.

Very Happy.

* * *

**Translations:** Japanese to English

Densetsu no Sannin – Legendary Three Ninja  
Gama Sennin – Toad Sage

* * *

**10-25-15:** _Minor edits made to chapter to fix spelling/grammar mistakes and removed unnecessary author's notes._


	23. Reevaluation

**Disclaimer:** _All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies and all Naruto characters are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites._

**Warnings:** _AU for parts of both worlds (i.e. kiss canon goodbye), mild character bashing, mild to moderate violence (there are shinobi involved after all), and a few others that will be announced as they crop up. _

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

**Chapter 23: Reevaluation**

_Saturday, April 05, 2003, All Day  
Konohagakure no Sato, Hi no Kuni_

Harry let his eyes run over the familiar faces of the Jounin panel that had conducted his initial physical assessment and fought the urge to squirm beneath the contemplative gazes that were being leveled at him. It had been eighteen months to the day since he'd given his oath to the Hokage and officially joined the shinobi forces and he was due to have his skills reevaluated to determine whether or not he'd improved over the past year and a half. In addition to the assessment panel, there were quite a few off duty shinobi that planned to watch him show off again scattered about the edges of the training ground; including Naruto and his two teammates.

"Are you ready, my _**youthful**_ friend?" Gai inquired once the last member of the panel arrived (Kakashi running late, as usual).

"Hai," Harry replied as he focused his attention on the eccentric taijutsu master and shifted into a defensive stance.

Two seconds later, the Jounin was flying at Harry as their spar officially began. Unlike the first time that Harry had fought the Jounin, Harry wasn't caught off guard by the man's speed; the wizard had grown used to seeing shinobi move at superhuman speeds during the long months in the village. The other difference this time was that Harry had a far better grounding in taijutsu basics thanks to all of the training spars that Yamato had put him through. On top of that, he'd had the opportunity to spar with a number of different individuals that allowed him to gain a better grasp on how to use the Mizuken Ryuu against different styles to better effect.

His physical conditioning and stamina had also improved over the intervening months; which allowed Harry to last far longer against the stronger Jounin than he had the first time he'd faced the man. Harry even managed to get in a few hits this time whereas before he'd not managed to hit the man at all. After forty-eight minutes, Gai called an end to the match when Harry's form started growing slightly sloppy (a sign of his encroaching exhaustion). Harry still ended up with some pretty impressive bruises from the match but they didn't really bother him all that much since his pain tolerance (which had always been high) had only grown since he first became a shinobi.

For his shurikenjutsu assessment, Genma once again started by having Harry attempt to hit him with kunai and shuriken; though this time the man used a shadow clone to provide Harry with multiple targets. Harry hadn't spent as much time working with the throwing weapons but Yamato had given him tips to improve his accuracy; something that showed as Genma was forced to use the substitution jutsu a couple of times to escape injury. At the end of ten minutes, Genma and his clone turned the tables on Harry without warning and Harry once again was on the receiving end of a barrage of sharp and pointy objects.

Harry spent five minutes catching both kunai and shuriken before he started using the weapons he caught to deflect the unending flood of kunai, shuriken, and senbon. He even managed to dispel the man's clone rather than just remaining on the defensive; a reflection of how accustomed he'd become to fighting with live weapons in a spar during his training sessions. The ability to turn an opponent's weapons against them was a skill that could save his life in the future and something that Yamato had been quick to point out to him the first time the two of them had sparred using the throwing weapons during his training sessions.

At the end of the second ten minute period, Harry was grinning like a loon once more as he'd enjoyed the heated match just as much as he'd enjoyed it the first time around. He almost wished he'd had a chance to spar with Genma during the past eighteen months as the man was by far the most talented shinobi he'd come across when it came to shurikenjutsu. Harry received his first ten minute break at that point as the scattered weapons were gathered up from the field; Harry summoning his personal weapons using the recall runes he had stitched in his cloak pockets (which were tied directly to the runes he'd carved onto his weapons) while Genma was forced to gather his the old fashioned way.

His kenjutsu spar with Hayama only lasted a half an hour without any breaks and only focused on his skills using a tanto, a katana, and his dual wielding with both two wakizashi blades and with a traditional daisho. He also demonstrated the long range kenjutsu attacks that Yuugao had taught him. He was still no match for Hayama and he walked away from the spar with more than a few cuts and bruises where he hadn't blocked or dodged fast enough. He was at least content with the knowledge that his sword work had improved over the past seven or eight months. If he'd been allowed to use his broadsword during the spar he'd have done even better but the assessment panel already knew he could effectively use the western blade.

Shizune healed his injuries once the spar was over and then Harry took another ten minute break before he demonstrated the jutsu that he'd learned over the past eighteen months. Those included the doton jutsu that Yamato had taught him to clear the land of rocks, to till the land, and to level the land as well as the wind and water attacks that he'd been taught after the Jounin had tested his chakra affinities (which were strangely enough not exactly the same as his magical affinities which were wind and fire – wind being the only common element between the two energies).

At the end of the demonstration, Harry would face both Kakashi and Yamato in an all out ninjutsu spar. Unlike his first all out spar with Kakashi, Harry's memories of the war were not stirred. He also allowed himself to use far more magic in the two on one match than he had previously; a reflection of the fact that the wizard no longer mistrusted the entire village the same way he had when he first arrived. He still didn't demonstrate the full range of his magical skills but that was simply because there were far too many shinobi present and shinobi were some of the biggest gossips that Harry had ever met; and he'd known Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil – the gossip twins of Hogwarts.

Two hours later, the training ground was once again a huge mess and all three men were exhausted; Harry had pushed Yamato and Kakashi just as much as they'd pushed him. It wasn't that he'd gotten that much stronger (although he had grown during the past year and a half); it was that his physical stamina had improved, his chakra control had gotten better (even if it still wasn't perfect), and the experience he'd gained from sparring against different shinobi during his training had allowed him to develop a better fighting strategy.

The weekly appointments with Tsunade had also reduced a significant amount of the internal stress he'd been suffering from due to his body still adjusting to the crude expansion of his chakra coils and the sealing of the Kyuubi inside of him. Expending large amounts of chakra regularly had been a double-edged sword as while it helped reduce the amount of chakra in his coils it also placed stress on his coils (much like running hot water over a burn irritates the injured skin and nerves). Of course, if he had stopped using his chakra in order to allow his coils to heal, then he'd have only made the damage worse because of the constant influx of converted demon chakra steadily increasing his reserves.

Demonstration and assessment over, the crowd dispersed with those that had seen Harry's original assessment verbally commenting on the differences between both assessments to those that had not been present at the first one. Harry was told to be in the Hokage's office at nine sharp on Monday morning to hear the results of his reevaluation before he was ordered to help repair the clearing he'd helped destroy. Yamato and Kakashi both took a soldier pill to restore their chakra reserves while Harry sighed and started the repairs with his magic; the wizard not allowed to use chemical aides to bolster his depleted chakra reserves due to the risk of overloading his coils thanks to Kyuubi's presence.

It only took a half an hour for the three of them to restore the training ground with Kakashi and Yamato doing most of the work. Naruto, who'd stuck around alongside of his teammates, dragged Harry off to their shared flat the moment the clearing had been repaired. Harry was rather amused that all three children were currently correcting each other in regards to which skill of his had been the most awesome. Housei was adamant that Harry's kenjutsu skills were the best, while Midori insisted that Harry's ability to catch kunai and shuriken was better, and Naruto firmly argued that it was Harry's ninjutsu that had been awesome. Harry dryly reminded all three of them that all skills had their uses; even the boring ones.

Harry spent the rest of the weekend lazing about; a rarity for the wizard as there was no work for him to do on any of the Namikaze properties and he'd been given the time off from missions and training. Teddy greatly appreciated having his undivided attention for most of Sunday; the two of them alternating between playing, studying, and practicing magic (Harry seeking to help Teddy improve his control over his metamorphmagus abilities using the suggested exercises that Andromeda had outlined for him prior to her death).

* * *

_Monday, April 07, 2003, Morning  
Konohagakure no Sato, Hi no Kuni_

Hiruzen glanced down at the evaluation summary of Namikaze Takeshi's most recent assessment while he waited for the young man in question to arrive for their meeting.

_**Name:**__ Namikaze Takeshi  
**Age:**__ 22  
**Height:**__ 5'6"  
**Weight:**__ 170lbs  
**Kekkei Genkai:**__ Unnamed (Alternative/Secondary Energy?)  
**Description:**__ The full extent of the abilities of the still unnamed Kekkei Genkai are unknown but currently include; an increased healing factor, provides the user with an increase in stamina and endurance, speak with/summon the spirits of the dead, manipulate and combine any element regardless of the user's actual chakra affinities (examples include ice and lava), speak the language of serpents, physically alter their base form at will (this ability is specific to Takeshi's son), create or summon objects from thin air, and it purportedly prevents a user from breaking an oath. _

_**Note:**__ The unnamed Kekkei Genkai has been revealed to be a secondary energy source that is not related in any way to chakra. A few words that have been used to describe this ability are; versatility, unpredictability, sentience/intuitiveness, willpower, raw power, responsibility, belief/confidence, balance, healing/health, and death._

_**Stats – Current (Previous)  
Stamina:**__ 5.0 (5.0)  
**Speed:**__ 3.0 (2.5)  
**Force:**__ 2.5 (2.0)  
**Taijutsu:**__ 2.5 (2.0)  
**Ninjutsu:**__ 3.75 (3.0)  
**Genjutsu:**__ 0.0 (0.0)  
**Fuuinjutsu:**__ 2.5 (2.5 – Not retested)  
**Kenjutsu:**__ 4.5 (4.0)  
**Shurikenjutsu:**__ 3.25 (2.5)  
**Intelligence:**__ 4.5 (4.5 – Not retested)_

_**Total Ability:**__ 31.5/36 incl. LP (28.0/32.5 incl. LP), 3.15 average/3.6 incl. LP (2.8 average/3.25 incl. LP)  
**Latent Potential (LP):**__ 4.5 (4.5 – Unchanged)  
**Luck:**__ 5.0/-5.0 (Namikaze's luck has shown a disturbing tendency to invert itself without warning. The exact reason for the inversion has remained unclear and the pattern that the inversions follow is currently unpredictable.)_

_**Chakra Rating:**__ Kage level reserves, low Chuunin level control _

_**Skill Levels –  
Physical Condition:**__ Low to Mid Chuunin  
**Weapons handling:**__ Low Jounin  
**Battlefield Strategy:**__ High Jounin  
**Overall Ranking:**__ High Chuunin_

_**Comments:**__ Namikaze is a Jinchuuriki (bijuu: Kyuubi), has maintained an uncommonly high level of situational awareness on the battlefield, still doesn't know when to quit (excessively stubborn), showed an improvement in regards to personal safety, retained the ability to think on his feet, and increased his ability to adapt his battlefield strategies in order to counter his opponent's tactics. He still has a wealth of untapped potential that could be brought out so long as he continues to receive proper training._

_Namikaze has started to place his trust in authority figures (providing they are honest and straightforward with him). He has demonstrated a measure of loyalty to the village that did not exist previously though he is still loyal to his family first and foremost. He is also still highly protective of his family but the chances of him physically harming those that annoy him have decreased significantly. _

_It is my firm belief that Namikaze no longer poses any threat to the village and his behavior and change in attitude over the past eighteen months has indicated that the man is well on his way to considering Konoha his home. The lack of hostility from the civilians towards the two Namikaze children (particularly towards Naruto) has played a huge factor in Namikaze's change of attitude. _

_**Recommendations:**__ I recommend that Namikaze be placed on a proper four man squad in order to give him experience in working with other members of the shinobi force and to give him a chance to build additional bonds above those he formed over the past eighteen months. I believe that Namikaze will benefit from taking higher level missions (both inside and outside of the village) that will allow him to surpass his current limits and offer a greater chance of him reaching his full potential. The risks involved in allowing him to leave the village are little different than those that all shinobi face when they step outside of the walls on a mission; bar the chance of him crossing paths with one of Manito's old enemies. _

_Namikaze would also greatly benefit from some structured lessons in fuuinjutsu as he has shown a rare intuitiveness and inventiveness when it comes to the sealing arts. It has also been noted that the young man uses some highly unorthodox seal combinations on top of using a number of unfamiliar seals that potentially originated from Namikaze's land of birth and might be powered through his still unnamed Kekkei Genkai. Examples of Namikaze's seal work to date include; an extensive barrier over each of the Namikaze properties (that can block the interior from both the Byakugan and the Sharingan and alerts Namikaze to intruders), specialized shoes that allow one to traverse unstable ground (such as sand or snow) without the need to expend chakra or use a variation of the water walking exercise, and a chakra dampening field that can cloak a person's chakra reserves and render them mostly invisible to sensors and sensory jutsu. _

_Lastly, while Namikaze has shown marked improvement both mentally and emotionally since he first arrived, I highly recommend that his monthly meetings with Ibiki not be stopped at this point; the therapy sessions have proven to be highly beneficial in reducing the stress and tension that was noted during earlier evaluations. Reducing the number of meetings per year should not impact their usefulness providing that Namikaze attends a minimum of four sessions per year and schedules additional sessions upon completion of any high level mission with a high risk factor or in the event that a mission fails (for any reason). ~ Shikaku_

Hiruzen was actually more than a little surprised that the man had improved as much as he had over the past eighteen months; if only because it was almost unheard of for someone of Takeshi's age to experience such notable growth over such a short time frame. That was especially true when one considered how late in life Takeshi began his shinobi training (at age nineteen – a full thirteen years after most potential shinobi begin their training). There were moments when Hiruzen wondered just how powerful the young head of the Namikaze family would be if he'd started his training around age six. He also wondered if there was any chance the man would allow his son to join the Academy when he turned six.

The Sandaime closed the file and set it to one side before he picked up the active shinobi roster to scan through the list of Chuunin level shinobi that were currently not assigned to a four man team. Most of those that fell in that category were unfortunately assigned to teach at the Academy, worked in the Cipher Division, or were currently assigned to the T and I Department. It would do Hiruzen no good to assign two village-bound shinobi to Yamato's team (the Sandaime had decided to keep Takeshi under the Mokuton user's supervision because they worked well together) since Yamato would shortly be taking Takeshi out of the village on missions.

There were actually only four potential teammates that had the skills necessary to join Yamato's team. Unfortunately, selecting which pair would be placed on the team was not an easy task since the four individuals in question were from two different teams that were short handed and splitting up the pairings would only create more problems. Then there was the fact that the first pair (Endo Hayase and Oota Oukei*) were both five years younger than Takeshi and the second pair (Hagane Kotetsu and Kamizuki Izumo) were consummate pranksters.

Hiruzen wasn't certain how Takeshi would react to having younger teammates (due to his distaste for what he saw as child soldiers) but he wasn't certain he wanted to place three known pranksters all on one team (that was just asking for trouble). After a slight hesitation, he made a decision on which pair he would assign to Yamato's team based upon skill alone (rather than on age or personality) and prayed that he wouldn't regret it later. Decision made, Hiruzen dropped the roster back on his desk, wrote a short note of explanation to the chosen pair (so they would be aware of what was going on), and sent one of his AnBu Guards with said letter to fetch the two individuals that he'd selected.

The smoke from the masked shinobi's exit hadn't quite dissipated before his current secretary knocked on the door to announce that Yamato and Namikaze Takeshi had arrived for their meeting. Hiruzen promptly asked the man to send the pair in and less than a minute later, Hiruzen found himself studying Takeshi as the man strode into his office on the heels of the Jounin that he'd assigned to train the Chuunin.

The young shinobi still exuded a presence that demanded attention and still moved with the natural grace of a stalking tiger though the man's tightly leashed power was no longer quite so easy to sense. Part of that was due to the intensive training that the Jounin Hiruzen had assigned to mind the man had put him through and part due to the man having far better control of his emotions. It helped that Takeshi's former rage over the injustices that Naruto suffered earlier in life had been calmed thanks to the worst of the offenders being weeded from the village long before the Namikaze family arrived and that very few people still directed their hate at the younger Jinchuuriki.

It was the relaxed contentedness that clung to the man like a second skin that soothed Hiruzen's earlier concerns about the man though. Over the course of the past eighteen months, Takeshi had shed the negativity and hostility he'd worn like a second skin the day he arrived. The effort that he (and several of his most loyal shinobi) had put into making the entire Namikaze family feel welcome had produced the exact results that Hiruzen had been looking for; Namikaze Takeshi and Namikaze Naruto (and by extension the rest of their small family) had come to consider Konoha home. That Takeshi and Naruto were both dedicated shinobi that were without a doubt loyal (to a certain degree) to the village (they had been watched closely over the past year and a half) was a bonus in the Sandaime's eyes.

Yes, taking a chance on Namikaze Takeshi had been one of the best decisions that Hiruzen had made in the past twelve years.

Hiruzen shelved his musings as the pair slowed to a stop in front of his desk and offered him a respectful bow before they both offered a polite, "Ohayou gozaimasu, Hokage-sama."

"Ohayou, gentlemen," Hiruzen returned before he focused on the sole Chuunin present. "I spent most of yesterday reviewing your file and comparing the results from your most recent assessment with the results of the assessment that you were given when you first arrived. I am pleased with the progress that you have made over the past eighteen months. The imbalances that were originally noted in your skills have mostly been corrected and those that remain are minor enough to work around so long as you continue to work as hard as you have been this past year and a half. Additional experience on a wider range of missions will also undoubtedly help reduce those imbalances further."

"Your physical health, specifically the condition of your chakra network has improved drastically and Tsunade's most recent report indicated that the amount of damage and stress the influx of demonic chakra inflicts upon your coils on a weekly basis has begun to taper off; a clear indication that your chakra network has nearly finished adapting to the bijuu's presence. Tsunade believes that the process will be complete sometime within the next twelve to eighteen months and that so long as you continue to regularly expend large amount of chakra on a daily basis and continue to see her once a week for the duration of that time, there is little risk of your coils shattering due to the stress."

"Ibiki's monthly reports on your mental and emotional health have indicated that the severity of your PTSD has been reduced to more manageable levels. I was also happy to learn that your anger management issues haven't been as much of an issue over the past six months and that your tendency to lash out verbally (or physically in rare cases) at those that annoy you has been drastically reduced. I'd like for you to continue visiting Ibiki on a monthly basis for the next eight months and if you continue to show marked improvements at the end of those eight months, then the number of times you will be required to meet with Ibiki will be reduced to between four and six per year rather than the current twelve."

"Do you have any questions about your results or comments that you wish to make, Takeshi?" Hiruzen inquired as he eyed the young man for signs of tension or displeasure (he would find none).

"Not at this time, Hokage-sama."

Hiruzen nodded in response before he declared, "After careful consideration, Chuunin Namikaze Takeshi, I have decided to officially assign you to a four man squad. You will also be removed from the AnBu Watch List now that it has been determined that you are not a threat to the village; though you can expect to be monitored from time to time over the next two years." A knock at the door interrupted the meeting at that point and fifteen seconds later, the two individuals he'd selected to join Yamato's team entered the office.

"Perfect timing, gentlemen; I was just about to mention the two of you by name. Takeshi, please allow me to introduce you to your new teammates; Hagane Kotetsu and Kamizuki Izumo. Kotetsu, Izumo; I believe the two of you are familiar with Namikaze Takeshi. The three of you will be forming a new team under the leadership of Jounin Yamato. The four of you will have the next six to ten weeks in which to work on your teamwork before Team Yamato is cleared for missions outside of the village."

The Hokage almost smiled when he saw the surprise flit across Takeshi's face as the young man briefly glanced his way before returning his gaze to the two older Chuunin that had been assigned to his team. The twin smirks on Kotetsu and Izumo's faces didn't bode well for Hiruzen's sanity but it was a little late now to change his mind. He also didn't miss the doleful glare that Yamato had directed his way the moment the young Jounin had learned the identity of the two additional Chuunin that had been assigned to his team.

Hiruzen hoped that the former AnBu Guard would eventually forgive him for assigning the two pranksters to the team that Yamato had agreed to lead. Skill wise, the two men had been the only logical pair to place on the team since their abilities were ranked between high Chuunin and low Jounin while the other pair's skills had been between low and mid Chuunin. The older duo was also easygoing and outgoing enough to get along with most anyone; which increased the chances that Takeshi would not have any problems working with the pair.

"Are there any questions, gentlemen?" Hiruzen asked once it became obvious that the three Chuunin finished inspecting one another. "No…? Then the four of you are dismissed."

Hiruzen watched the four men file out of his office before he turned his attention to the paperwork that needed to be done to finalize the formation of the new team. Once he completed that, he pushed all thoughts of Namikaze Takeshi from his mind as he moved on to the next item on his agenda for the day.

* * *

_Monday, April 07, 2003, Morning  
Konohagakure no Sato, Hi no Kuni_

Yamato was sorely tempted to use his control over wood to form sharp splinters on the Hokage's desk and chair in retaliation for assigning the two pranksters to his team. The only reason he didn't was the fact that Kotetsu and Izumo were actually a good match for Takeshi; so long as the duo didn't start a prank war with the younger Chuunin. Takeshi rarely ever pulled any pranks but when he did, he went to great lengths to let the person on the receiving end of the prank know that they'd irritated him. The only exception was when the man was pranking Naruto or his son (those pranks were always intended to be fun and amusing for the both the pranker and the prankee).

The moment the door to the Hokage's office closed behind the newly formed team, Yamato asked, "I already know that Takeshi cleared his schedule for the day but do either of you have previous commitments you need to take care of, or are you free to join us for the rest of the day?"

"We've nothing pressing that needs our attention," Izumo declared after holding a short, silent conversation with Kotetsu with naught but a glance.

"In that case, I'd like to spend the rest of the morning sparring in order to see where the two of you stand, skill wise, and to allow the three of you a chance to familiarize yourselves with one another's fighting styles. After that, we can sit down and discuss a training schedule for the next six weeks and set aside time for team missions."

"Sounds like fun," Kotetsu remarked with a slight smirk.

"Most definitely," Izumo agreed with an identical smirk.

"I hope you're both good at dodging and running; Yamato-san's idea of sparring requires a lot of legwork," Takeshi interjected absently as he tucked his hands in his pockets and began walking in the direction of the training ground that the two of them usually trained in.

"That's because you needed the practice to improve your speed," Yamato pointed out with a soft snort as he fell into step with him and the other two followed in their wake.

"Really? I thought it was because you were still mad over the prank that Naruto played on you."

Yamato snorted again, "You and I both know that you were the one that came up with that prank on top of helping the gaki pull it off by leading me right into it."

"Of course I helped my itoko; what kind of role model would I be if I didn't help and encourage Naruto to improve himself? Or worse, discouraged him from enjoying such a harmless hobby while improving his stealth capabilities and planning skills at the same time?" Takeshi demanded in a scandalous tone.

"I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship," Kotetsu drawled in a tone that made Yamato want to bash his head against the nearest tree.

"You took the words right out of my mouth, Tetsu-chan," Izumo eagerly agreed and Yamato began to seriously consider the length, sharpness, and number of the splinters he intended to grow on the seat of the Hokage's chair.

The group arrived at Training Ground Sixteen (the same clearing that Takeshi had claimed over a year ago) just a few minutes later and Yamato promptly set the other three to sparring in an all out melee in order to get an idea of Kotetsu and Izumo's skills as well as get a feel for how well the trio would work together. He didn't fail to notice that the two older Chuunin tended to gang up on Takeshi (out of habit since they'd been teammates for over ten years now) instead of fighting one another.

Yamato smirked when Takeshi took away that advantage from the pair when he created a dozen Kage Bunshin and had eight of them henge into copies of Kotetsu and Izumo to confuse the pranksters. Once the pair was separated and the two originals lost amongst the clones along with the original Takeshi, the fight turned into the free-for-all that it was meant to be and temporary alliances rose and fell with each strike. The Jounin called an end to the spar half an hour later and asked Takeshi to dispel his clones.

He nearly groaned when the smoke cleared to reveal Kotetsu and two Izumos standing in the clearing. The two Izumos immediately began arguing over who was the real Izumo while Kotetsu merely smirked. Yamato let them have five minutes to play around before he ordered the fake to drop his henge. He was more than a little surprised when the fake Izumo was revealed to be Kotetsu while the Kotetsu who'd been standing off to the side smirking had actually been Takeshi. All three of the Chuunin had cracked up over that and Yamato glowered at the trio as he began making plans to sneak into the Hokage's office to grow splinters… lots of splinters that would be strategically placed for optimal pain.

Up in the Hokage's office, the Hokage felt a wave of immense dread wash over him and he shivered beneath his hat as he briefly wondered just who he'd pissed off this time.

* * *

**Translations:** Japanese to English

Daisho – (meaning: large and small) a paired set of blades typically made up of a katana and a wakizashi  
Tetsu-chan – cute and teasing nickname for Kotetsu

**Techniques/Skills:**

Mizuken Ryuu – Water Fist Style (taijutsu style used by Uzumaki Clan – created by author).

**Notes:**

Hayase &amp; Oukei – are both canon characters that were introduced during the Chuunin Exam Arc (they were the two Chuunin plants in the written part of the exam), their last names, however, were random names that I pulled out of a hat.

Kotetsu &amp; Izumo – yes, I know that these two are usually attached to the T &amp; I Dept under Ibiki and in canon he worked with them during the Chuunin Exams but I'm using creative license to say they were only temporarily assigned those duties (alongside gate duty) due to the fact that their team was short handed. It was very hard to find canon characters that I could pair Harry up with that were the appropriate level and I am very fond of Kotetsu and Izumo. I could have used Hayase and Oukei but there isn't as much known about them and I didn't want to spend the extra time needed to develop their characters.

* * *

**10-25-15:** _Minor edits made to chapter to fix spelling/grammar mistakes and removed unnecessary author's notes._


	24. Snapshots of a Shinobi's Life

**Disclaimer:** _All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies and all Naruto characters are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites._

**Warnings:** _AU for parts of both worlds (i.e. kiss canon goodbye), mild character bashing, mild to moderate violence (there are shinobi involved after all), and a few others that will be announced as they crop up. _

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

**Chapter 24: Snapshots of a Shinobi's Life**

_Tuesday, February 25, 2003, Mid-Morning  
Konohagakure no Sato, Hi no Kuni_

"My arms are going to fall off if I have to pick up even one more piece of trash," Naruto complained as he tied a knot in the overstuffed plastic bag he'd just finished filling up.

"Picking up trash is far better than helping clean out the Inuzuka Kennels again," Housei countered as he tossed his bag of trash onto the pile of similar bags that were sitting in the hand drawn cart sitting outside of the Memorial Park that their team was cleaning up.

"It's not just the stupid trash," Naruto shot back as he finished tying the bag closed and heaved it into the cart with the rest of the garbage. "I'm sick of doing D Ranked missions, dattebayo! They're pretty much all we've been doing for the last year. I still don't see why Kakashi-sensei won't let us do more than one C Ranked mission a month."

"Sensei already told us why we have to do D Ranked missions," Midori chided as she joined the two boys. "Performing various tasks around the village helps to strengthen relations between shinobi and civilians."

"I know that… I just don't see why we can't stick to doing one chore a month and do real missions the rest of the time."

"It's because it wouldn't be fair to the other teams that are also qualified to take the higher ranked missions," Housei pointed out as he tossed Naruto a fresh bag. "The higher the rank of the mission, the higher the pay that is awarded to the team that takes the mission and everyone needs that money to cover their monthly expenses. That is especially true of those shinobi that don't have clan funds to fall back on when their monthly mission pay falls short of their bills. So, to keep things fair, the missions are spread out over all of the teams that are qualified to take them."

"On top of the careful division of mission assignments, the clans are restricted on the total number of shinobi of each rank that they are allowed to have on active duty," Midori added as she snagged another bag and headed back into the park. "The total numbers and their assigned ranks are determined by the size of the clan, the financial stability of the clan, the type and number of businesses that the clan has invested in or outright owns, and the amount of taxes the clan pays back to the village."

"Each clan shinobi is also only on active duty for between five and ten years before they are retired from active duty and placed on the reserve force. Once a clan shinobi is moved into the reserves, they typically take up the family business or they are assigned to a permanent job (such as working at the hospital or on guard rotation) where they earn a straight salary instead of a commission from mission assignments. Exceptions are made for those individuals that make a name for themselves or that show exceptional talent because the clients expect to hire them due to their reputations."

"Oh, I guess that kinda makes sense," Naruto mused as he and Housei followed in Midori's wake as she headed to the section of the park that they'd not yet cleaned. He then began frowning a bit before he asked, "Does that mean that it's my fault we're stuck doing so many rotten chores instead of real missions?"

"Sort of but it's mostly because Midori and I moved into the Namikaze Apartments with you when Takeshi-san offered to let us live there on a permanent basis rather than just spending the occasional night there like we used to. Even though we're not actually official wards of the Namikaze Clan, we are seen as such now that we live with you. The fact that your cousin doesn't charge us rent to live with you also means that our living expenses dropped drastically since we no longer have to pay rent and utilities or buy our own groceries."

"What's the big deal about being the ward of a clan? And what exactly is a ward? Would that mean that Takeshi-nii has adopted you or something?"

"No, it's not adoption; it's more like being fostered by a family," Midori corrected as she paused to brush a stray strand of hair that had escaped her right ponytail out of her face. "Fosterage occurs when a child is basically sent to live with another family to be raised or trained either for their protection, to repay a debt, or because the child's family does not have the means or time to raise or train the child themselves. The Fosterer (the person taking a foster child) is then responsible for his ward's welfare, education, and training until such a time as the child reaches their majority or the terms of the Fosterage have been met and the child can be returned to his family."

"In Konoha, many of the clans will actually foster or rather sponsor orphans or underprivileged children from civilian and merchant families that have some potential as shinobi. The Sponsor then assumes guardianship of the child until he or she graduates from the Academy or in some cases until they reach Chuunin level. Those clans or families that sponsor future shinobi get specialized tax breaks for their generosity, gifts or services from the child's family (if they are still alive), and the right to increase the number of shinobi in their clan by the count of one for every three such children that make the rank of Genin."

"The sponsored children are then provided with a home (if they are orphans), a small stipend to pay for their basic needs (such as food, clothes, and shinobi supplies), and political protection. If the child still lives with their families, then the money that would have gone towards rent for an apartment is halved and provided to the child's family to ease any financial burden they might bear as a result of their child being placed in the Academy. Any additional involvement between the sponsor and sponsored is then dependant upon the sponsor in question and how much of a relationship that the sponsor wants to have with those children he or she has sponsored."

"The child is then required to perform at a certain level in order to retain the sponsorship, behave appropriately in order to protect both their own reputation and the reputation of the clan or individual sponsoring them, and at some point in the future (once they've obtained their hitai-ate or a specific age or rank) repay the clan or family for the sponsorship. There are exceptions in the cases where a clan chooses to anonymously sponsor one or more children and those children are usually required to pay their debt to the village instead of to a clan."

"There are drawbacks to being sponsored as well, since your choices and actions will reflect back on your sponsor and it is far more difficult to obtain other forms of financial aide since it is assumed that your sponsor is paying for all of your essentials. And once you have earned your hitai-ate, things become even harder because you have to juggle your responsibilities as both a shinobi and as the receiver of a sponsorship."

"So, how does that affect the two of you?" Naruto asked as he tried to keep track of everything he'd just learned.

"We fall into a bit of a gray area since we aren't exactly wards of a clan but at the same time we aren't exactly paying our own way any longer," Housei quietly answered; the older boy obviously uncomfortable discussing the current topic with the heir of the clan that was unofficially sponsoring him at the moment. "So, basically, we have to deal with all of the drawbacks while receiving few or none of the benefits of an official sponsorship."

"Well that sucks," Naruto stated rather indignantly; his blunt appraisal of the situation rather shocking his two teammates as they had thought the blond was angry or indifferent to their plight since he hadn't said anything sooner and they were still weren't comfortable enough with Takeshi to bring the matter up to the current Namikaze Clan Head at the moment. "It's not right, either. Have you talked to niisan about it?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"We don't want to make him mad enough to kick us out," Midori admitted in a small voice.

"Don't be an idiot! Takeshi-nii would never kick you out over something like that. In fact, you'd have to commit a crime against nature or intentionally hurt Satoshi-kun to get him to kick you out and I can't see either one of you doing something like that, dattebayo! And if he knew it was causing you problems, he'd fix everything before you could say ramen because Takeshi-nii is cool like that. And I know he really likes you both 'cause if he didn't, then he never would have offered to let you both move in with us."

"Chibi-kun has a point," Housei admitted with a small grin.

"Oi! Watch who you're calling a midget, bean-pole!"

"You're both idiots," Midori fondly huffed as she grinned at both of them.

"Then it's settled; we'll talk to oniisan after lunch."

"After lunch?"

"Yep, after lunch; you just have to tell Takeshi-nii that you want to be recognized as wards of our clan and he'll take care of it, dattebayo," Naruto insisted before he stopped what he was doing and glanced nervously at his teammates before he hesitantly added, "Unless, you don't want to be wards of the Namikaze Clan. In which case, he'd probably accept a small payment each month for rent so you'd no longer be seen as his unofficial wards."

"Would you be alright with us being wards of your family, Naruto?" Housei inquired a little nervously.

"Why wouldn't I be? I mean, you're both practically already part of the family."

"Do you really think Takeshi-san would make us official wards?" Midori asked as she grew thoughtful.

"Hai; like I said earlier, he likes both of you."

Nothing more was said about the matter as the three of them returned their attention to their current mission and resumed gathering up the scattered garbage that had been blown into or dumped in the park. They would finish cleaning up the park by fifteen minutes after eleven and Naruto would leave his clones to haul the cart of garbage to the dump while the three of them headed for the park's facilities in order to wash their hands and face. Kakashi greeted them at the entrance of the park once they were finished washing up and the four of them would head to the Hokage's tower in order to fill out their mission report.

"Are you going to join us for lunch today, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto inquired as their team handed in their reports before slipping out the nearest window to avoid an incoming group of Genin teams looking to pick up an afternoon mission.

"Hmm, not today; I have a long standing appointment for twelve-fifteen that I can not miss."

"That's adult-speak for he's going to do his rounds of the village's bookstores to pick up his fifteen reserved copies of the latest release in the Icha-Icha Series," Housei stage whispered to his younger two teammates; all three of them smirking over the truth in that statement.

"And that was gaki-speak for I want to clean out the sewers on our next mission," Kakashi deadpanned in return as he mocked glared his Genin.

"Which is adult-speak for I was born without a sense of humor," Naruto quipped in a mock-solemn tone.

"Get out of here brats; before I decide to offer your cleaning services to the Inuzuka for the entire afternoon again."

All three Genin shuddered in response to the threat before they quickly took off running; none of them wished to spend another day cleaning up after the large number of ninken that the Inuzuka bred and raised. Ninja training did not reduce the sheer amount of poop that a ninken could produce on the specialized diet that the Inuzuka hounds were fed. Naruto hadn't even known it was possible for dogs to poop that much until they'd taken the Kennel Mission one slow afternoon when the three of them had been grown tired of training.

Needless to say, they would never again refer to training as boring; no matter how tedious said training was.

The semi-sadistically creative punishments their sensei regularly came up with were soon pushed out of their minds as the three of them prepared for their up coming discussion with Takeshi about making Housei and Midori's status as wards of the Namikaze Clan official.

* * *

_Monday, March 10, 2003, Early Evening  
Konohagakure no Sato, Hi no Kuni_

Naruto, Housei, and Midori had barely set foot inside of the Namikaze Apartments after an afternoon of grueling training when they suddenly found a stern Takeshi looming over them with an unreadable expression on his face. Naruto was no longer afraid of his cousin and he knew his cousin would never send him away but he was more than a little worried about what had happened. He was also rather puzzled by the fact that he was having trouble getting a read on Takeshi's current emotions.

"I just spent the last hour in a meeting with the Hokage and the three of you are in big trouble," Takeshi ominously announced as he folded his arms across his chest. "What do you have to say for yourselves?"

"We were only trying to help her get over her fear of spiders?" Naruto tentatively offered as he immediately thought that Mitarashi Anko had filed a formal complaint about the latest prank their team had played on her.

The three of them had recently learned that the woman did not care for spiders (read hated them with a passion second only to her love of dango). Knowing just how dangerous it was for shinobi to have crippling phobias since it could get them killed on a mission, the three of them had gathered up dozens of local non-lethal species of the arachnids (with the help of a member from the Aburame Clan in exchange for a case of imported honey) so they could help the woman get over her fears.

They'd then let all of those spiders (ranging in size from barely visible to the naked eye to large enough to eat a medium size dog in one sitting) loose in Mitarashi's office within the T and I Facility during a midnight raid.

The sound of the kunoichi's screams echoing across the village had been music to Naruto's ears the next morning.

Naruto felt a small spike of amusement from his cousin before he dryly instructed, "Try again."

"Ano… she started it!" Naruto blurted out in an effort to shift the blame back onto the 'evil' (in Naruto's mind, at least) kunoichi that had frightened Satoshi and attacked Takeshi's back when they first returned to Konoha.

"Your transgressions have nothing to do with Mitarashi – _this_ time," Takeshi corrected as he dropped his chin down to peer over the top of his glass as the trio.

"What did we do wrong then, Takeshi-san?" Housei asked in confusion after the three Genin exchanged a confused look in an effort to figure out what was going on since they couldn't think of what they might have done to get them in trouble with the Hokage aside from their routine pranking of the Mitarashi woman.

"What am I going to do with the three of you?" Takeshi dramatically asked instead of actually answering Housei's question. He then withdrew a trio of unmarked envelopes from his cloak pocket and passed one to each Genin as he disappointedly told them, "The three of you will need to think carefully about the trouble you have caused recently and live with the punishment you have garnered for what you have done."

Takeshi abruptly left them standing there feeling rather guilty and more than a little confused about what had just happened. Naruto's scrunched up in thought as he tried to figure out just what was off about the entire thing as his eyes drifted to the two envelopes being held by his teammates and friends before returning to the one in his own hand.

"Think we should open them now?" Naruto asked as he swallowed back his nervousness.

"Might as well; I doubt we're ever going to figure out what it was we did that got us in trouble if we don't," Midori pointed out logically as she flipped the envelope in her hand over a couple of times.

All three Genin tore the edge from their respective envelopes in unison and Housei and Midori both withdrew official looking documents from within the envelopes that they'd been given while Naruto only found a small scrap of folded parchment in his. He unfolded the little slip of thick paper with trepidation only to stare at the single sentence written on it in confusion for several seconds.

_Be sure to congratulate your teammates, squirt!_

Naruto's attention was drawn from the parchment slip by a loud squeal from Midori who then jumped on Naruto and hugged him to death as she jumped up and down in place. Housei joined in the hug a moment later as he laughed out loud and gave the blond a noogie.

"We're official!" Midori crowed as she broke their hug first so she could wave the document in her hand at Naruto. "The Hokage signed off on us becoming official wards of the Namikaze Clan!"

Naruto's confusion melted away upon hearing the kunoichi's years and he belted out a happy, "Yatta!" He then fell still as he realized something very important. A calculating gleam soon entered his eyes as he whispered, "Takeshi-nii just pranked us. He purposely made us think we were in trouble, dattebayo. You know what that means, ne?"

"It means war!" all three Genin cried in unison.

The amused laugh that drifted back to the trio of underage shinobi only fueled their inner pranksters as they immediately bolted through the house looking for their target. They would find him in the kitchen where he was just setting three plates of food on the table. As the trio tumbled through the door intent on catching their guardian, Takeshi smirked at them before he vanished in a cloud of chakra smoke; Takeshi had sent a clone to prank them. That knowledge let Naruto know why he'd had such a hard time reading his cousin's emotions earlier; Takeshi's clones never felt or radiated emotions as intensely as his cousin did.

Knowing that the real Takeshi could be just about anywhere in the village, the three Genin quickly washed up before they sat down to eat supper while they huddled together and made plans for the prank war that Takeshi had declared on them with his earlier prank. Fuel would be added to the fire when the three of them suddenly began sporting pink feathers as a result of a potion that had been added to their food. By the time they had finished eating, and molting their feathers, the three of them had several rough plans of attack and they split up to gather their supplies.

Ten minutes later, the three of them met in the living room before they headed outside so that Naruto could spam the village with clones to hunt down Takeshi; every single clone transforming into various birds so they could cover more ground. After the clones had taken wing, the three of them began setting their first traps while they waited for word on where their opponent was hiding.

The Prank War would last well into the night and would have many casualties as several innocents (and not so innocents in the case of the Mitarashi woman and Kakashi – the latter had known about the prank Takeshi had planned to play on the trio before hand and purposefully hadn't warned them) were caught up in the traps the various participants threw at each other.

By the time a truce had been called around ten-thirty, all four participants (and numerous non-participants) had been covered in an assortment of messy, silly, and disgusting things and more than a little exhausted and the troops retired for the night in order to clean themselves so they could head off to bed.

Naruto was sporting a grin that near split his face in half as he crawled into bed that night; his teammates, his _friends_, were now pretty much part of his family.

And his cousin was the absolute best cousin in the world.

What other clan head would be silly enough to start a prank war in order to celebrate the induction of two orphans into the clan?

* * *

_Monday, April 07, 2003, Noon  
Konohagakure no Sato, Hi no Kuni_

Team Kakashi was ambling along towards the Namikaze Wheelhouse where they were planning to eat lunch together after spending the entire morning chasing down an ostrich, of all things, that had escaped from its owner. They were about half way to their destination when Kakashi suddenly stopped in the middle of the road; his unexpected cessation of movement causing the three Genin to trip over themselves and each other in an effort to avoid walking into their sensei.

"Ano, is there something wrong, Kakashi-sensei?" Midori asked as the three Genin curiously noted the shocked and almost nervous expression on the Jounin's face.

"No, not even the Hokage would be crazy enough to put those three together on the same team," Kakashi muttered under his breath as he shook himself and began walking again.

"Is it just me or is sensei acting a bit weird all of a sudden," Housei inquired softly as the three of them slowly began following their sensei once more even as they tried to scan the surrounding crowds in order to figure out just who the Jounin had been talking about. Naruto and Midori shot the older teen an incredulous look in response to his question and Housei promptly blushed as he amended, "I meant weirder than usual."

"I don't know; sometimes it's hard to tell with sensei," Naruto mused as he eyed the man that had been his instructor for the past eighteen months.

"Oh hey, isn't that Takeshi's Jounin-teichou?" Midori inquired as she caught sight of Yamato-san in the crowd.

"Yeah, it is," Naruto agreed as he easily picked out the Jounin from the surrounding crowd due to the way most of the civilians were avoiding the man as he walked with a metaphorical dark cloud over top of his head. "If he's here, then that means oniisan is probably somewhere close by as well. I wonder if they're going to have lunch at the Wheelhouse too."

"He doesn't look all that happy, does he?" Housei asked as he finally spotted the Jounin as well.

"Keshi-nii probably killed another tree while training this morning; Yamato-teichou hates it when he does that," Naruto remarked before he grabbed hold of his teammates by the wrist and began dragging them towards the Jounin. "Come on, let's see if we can find niisan and ask him if he'll eat lunch with us today."

By the time they'd caught up to both Yamato and Kakashi, the two Jounin had entered the Wheelhouse's lobby together. The trio of Genin piled through the doors just a minute after them and immediately found Takeshi chatting animatedly with a pair of slightly older men that Naruto recognized as the Chuunin that often guarded the main gates. Kakashi and Yamato were standing off to one side of the trio and the proverbial black cloud over Yamato's head had expanded to cover Kakashi as well.

"Keshi-nii! Will you eat lunch with us?" Naruto demanded as he bounded across the lobby to latch onto Takeshi's waist from the back as he pushed the weirdness of the two Jounin from his mind in favor of convincing his cousin to spend lunch with Team Kakashi.

"So, you must be the infamous little ankle-biter that annoyed Yamato-teichou with a prank or two," the Chuunin with the bandage running across the bridge of his nose commented as he leaned around Takeshi in order to inspect Naruto.

"I'm not a midget!" Naruto protested as he scowled at the man.

"You can prank him for it later, Naruto," Takeshi quipped as he extracted himself from Naruto's hold and pulled the pre-teen out from behind him. "In the mean time, allow me to introduce you to Hagane Kotetsu and Kamizuki Izumo; my newly assigned teammates and fellow practitioners of the fine art of pranking. Teammates, meet my cousin; Namikaze Naruto. Hovering behind us are Naruto's teammates; Ikeda Housei and Tanaka Midori. All three of whom are highly troublesome pranksters with a habit of pranking those who annoy them."

"Hey, Tetsu, it sounds like our position as the biggest pranksters in the shinobi ranks is being challenged by a trio of wet behind the ears Genin," Izumo absently remarked as a mischievous smirk slowly spread across his face.

"Zumo, I do believe you are correct and you know that means, ne?"

Naruto exchanged a quick glance with Housei and Midori and all three of them subtly nodded in agreement before they cried out in unison, "It means war!"

"I give it a week before the village collapses in flames," Kakashi pessimistically predicted from where he was trying to console a distraught Yamato.

"The village might be lucky to last an entire week but I don't think Yamato-san is going to last an hour," Arata dryly quipped as he approached the group. "So, shall I set the lot of you up with one room or two?"

"Two, Yamato and I are going to need every bit of plausible deniability we can get if we're to survive their war with our careers intact," Kakashi replied as he jerked his thumb in the direction of the six pranksters.

"Kakashi-sensei is so mean, dattebayo," Naruto dramatically complained as he pouted at his sensei. "His shriveled and dying sense of humor is doomed to a tragic end as it is being drowned out by sheer uncoolness."

"Such a tragic end," Izumo and Kotetsu solemnly agreed.

"Kakashi's sense of humor is perfectly fine; it's his sanity I'm worried about. Putting up with you troublemakers is enough to drive anyone crazy, I should know," Arata drawled with obvious amusement. "Now, if all of you are done causing a scene; rooms eighteen and nineteen upstairs are free. I'll send someone up to take your orders in about five minutes."

As the group of eight shinobi began migrating towards the stairs leading up to the second floor of the restaurant, Naruto curiously asked, "So, what kind of pranks do the two of you prefer?"

"Genjutsu," Izumo answered automatically.

"And traps… can't forget the traps," Kotetsu added a split second later.

"And traps," Izumo agreed with a nod.

"And don't forget the Mizuame Nabara," Kotetsu interjected next.

"How could I forget that…? It's not like you never ask me to make you buckets of syrup once or twice a week," Izumo grumbled sarcastically.

"Well, I can't help it if I have a sweet tooth and it's not like I'm asking for gallons of the stuff all the time; just a little bit here and there."

"Just a little bit, he says, but it's not his chakra reserves that get eaten up each time he guzzles the syrup I make."

"You two are so weird," Midori interjected as their group reached the dining rooms that Arata had assigned for their use.

Instead of taking offense at Midori's proclamation, Izumo and Kotetsu laughed as the group split into two with the six pranksters slipping into room eighteen so they could lay down the rules of the proposed prank war. Kakashi and Yamato, on the other hand, headed into the other room so they could deny having any knowledge of the chaos that was about to be released upon Konoha. The six of them had barely taken their seats before a warning knock sounded on the door to herald the entrance of a pretty teen with long, auburn hair wearing the Wheelhouse's uniform.

"Good afternoon, Namikaze-sama and guests; my name is Sumiko and I will be your waitress today," the teen greeted the moment everyone turned their attention to her. The waitress then promptly handed them each a menu and pulled out a notepad and pencil before asking, "Would you like to order your drinks and an appetizer while you decide on your orders?"

"Yes, we'd like a large pot of green tea, a large pitcher of lemonade, a pitcher of ice water, and for an appetizer, we'll have the large sampler platter," Takeshi ordered without bothering to crack the menu open.

"We'd like a large order of popcorn shrimp and two orders of mozzarella sticks to split," Naruto added after a brief conference with his teammates.

"What comes on the sampler platter, Takeshi?" Izumo asked curiously instead of glancing at the menu.

"A sample of several appetizers that the Wheelhouse offers and the size of the order will determine how many servings are provided; the small platter is one serving of each, medium has three, large has six, extra-large has nine, and the Akimichi special has twenty servings of each appetizer."

"Nice; how many different appetizers are there?" Kotetsu wondered as he flipped through his menu.

"Over a hundred but some of them are only served on holidays or only available seasonally," Sumiko explained with a smile. "There are also several dishes that are considered special order only since they are rather expensive to make due to the difficulty we have acquiring the ingredients needed to make them. On average, the sample platters will have around fifteen different dishes with an option to double the number for double the price. The list of appetizers included in the sampler platter changes on the first of each month."

"That's a lot of food."

"Not really, the individual serving sizes are fairly small on their own," Takeshi countered with a shake of his head. "The point of the platters is to allow customers to sample a wider range of the dishes we offer since more than two thirds of the dishes we offer are relatively unheard of in Konoha. The serving sizes for individual orders of a single dish are twice the size of those offered on the sampler platters."

"Will that be all?" Sumiko inquired when it became apparent that there were no more questions.

"Yeah, we're good," Izumo stated with a nod.

"I will return with your drinks in short order," Sumiko announced as she bowed to the group before retreating from the room.

"So, what would you recommend for lunch, Takeshi?"

"That depends; do you want to try something new or do you want to stick with something more familiar? Can you handle something spicy or do you have a delicate stomach? And lastly, are you allergic to anything?"

"Let's go with something new; no sense in having the same-old thing and since this is our first time dining in the Namikaze Wheelhouse, we might as well have ourselves a memorable meal," Kotetsu insisted with a grin.

"We're good with anything; I have no allergies and Kotetsu has a cast iron stomach," Izumo added as he leaned over to the read the menu over Kotetsu's shoulder instead of bothering to use his own menu.

"Any preferences for type of meat?"

"Pork," Izumo replied at the same time as Kotetsu answered, "Chicken or seafood."

"Alright, for Kotetsu, I'd recommend the Cajun Tour; it comes with chicken gumbo, crawfish étouffée, Cajun baked catfish, and bananas foster for desert. And for Izumo, I'd recommend the Confederate Grill Tour (you get a choice of pork or beef); it comes with a garden salad, baked potato, a half and half order of barbequed ribs and shish kabobs, and glazed lemon cake for desert."

Their drinks and appetizers arrived just a few minutes later and everyone placed their orders with Sumiko; Izumo and Kotetsu ordered the dishes that Takeshi recommended, Takeshi ordered the Emerald Isle Tour (which came with Irish pub salad, slow cooked corned beef, cabbage, and red potatoes, freshly baked Irish soda bread, and Irish apple cake for dessert), and the three Genin chose to split a family size Eiffel Tower Tour (French onion soup, Lyonnaise potatoes, ratatouille, chicken cordon bleu, and chocolate mousse with Madeleine cookies for dessert).

As they nibbled on the large assortment of finger foods and teaser samples, the six pranksters regaled each other with stories about their most memorable pranks to date. That, of course, devolved into a bragging contest as they each tried to prove that they'd pulled off the most impressive prank. Takeshi managed to win that particular contest hands down; if only because he had successfully pranked two of the Densetsu no Sannin.

Naruto and his teammates were a close second due to the sheer number of times that they'd pranked Mitarashi Anko since their team had been formed (and Naruto had been pranking her for even longer than that) to Izumo and Kotetsu's everlasting shame.

By the time their lunch arrived, the two teams were drawing up the rules of engagement for their prank war and they'd gained an audience of two in the form of Satoshi and Aika when Eri dropped them off to spend time with Takeshi while she ordered the next load of supplies for the restaurant. At the end of their meal and right after the official start of their prank war, Takeshi managed to land the first blow on the three Genin when he left Team Kakashi with diaper duty for Aika.

Naruto was at least thankful that their team hadn't been stuck paying the bill for lunch as well since family was never charged for the meals they took in the restaurant and that courtesy was extended to their teammates. That was one of the reasons why Team Kakashi ate lunch at the Wheelhouse at least twice a week; the rest of the time they splurged on ramen from Ichiraku's, ate up in the Namikaze Apartments, packed a bento, or were treated to Korean barbecue at Yakiniku Q's by Kakashi.

The prank war between the two teams would last an entire week and like the smaller scale prank war to celebrate Housei and Midori officially becoming wards of the Namikaze Clan, there were many casualties.

No innocent was spared.

Poor little Aika's pretty little pink blanket and favorite teddy bear would never be the same.

* * *

**Translations:** Japanese to English

Densetsu no Sannin – Legendary Three Ninja  
Mizuame Nabara – Starch Syrup Capture Field (Kamizuki Izumo)  
Ne – used to solicit agreement or confirmation from the listener similar to using 'isn't it?' or 'right?' in English  
Yatta! – he/she/I did it!

**Notes:**

Étouffée – is a thick, spicy mixture of crawfish, shrimp, crab, or some combination of the three with onions and peppers cooked in light gravy and served with rice

Ratatouille – is a vegetable side dish containing eggplant, tomato, zucchini, peppers, onions, and various herbs

* * *

**10-25-15:** _Minor edits made to chapter to fix spelling/grammar mistakes and removed unnecessary author's notes._


	25. Broken Neck Pass

**Disclaimer:** _All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies and all Naruto characters are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites._

**Warnings:** _AU for parts of both worlds (i.e. kiss canon goodbye), mild character bashing, mild to moderate violence (there are shinobi involved after all), and a few others that will be announced as they crop up. _

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

**Chapter 25: Broken Neck Pass**

_Saturday, April 26, 2003, Late Afternoon  
Konohagakure no Sato, Hi no Kuni_

"All right, my cute little students; that's enough for today," Kakashi declared during a brief lull in the melee spar the three Genin had been having. "We'll be taking a C-Rank mission tomorrow; so make certain you pack enough supplies and equipment for a week or two and get plenty of rest tonight. You'll then need to me outside of the Hokage's Tower at six sharp tomorrow morning."

"Hai, sensei," all three Genin chirped in unison; all of them excited about the prospect of leaving the village yet again.

Kakashi disappeared in a swirl of leaves two second later and the trio took off towards the Namikaze Apartments above the Wheelhouse. The first thing they did after walking through the door was make a beeline for the nearest shower so they could wash off the sweat and grim they were covered in. Once they were clean, the three of them met back up in the kitchen to grab a snack to hold them over until supper.

The trio then migrated to the living room where they spent the rest of the afternoon oiling kunai, sharpening shuriken, and making a list of those tools and supplies that needed to be replaced or restocked. After supper, the three of them would split up to pack for the mission with Naruto sending out a few clones to collect those supplies they didn't have on hand in order to save time. Naruto had just sealed three extra sets of his non-standard shinobi uniform into a storage scroll when a sharp knock on his bedroom door reached his ears.

"It's unlocked!" Naruto announced loudly instead of bothering to get up and open the door to see who was there.

"Yes, but being unlocked does not mean it is safe to open," Takeshi dryly pointed out as he stepped into the room.

"That should teach you not to try and prank me while I'm sleeping," Naruto retorted as he smirked at his cousin.

"We both know you weren't sleeping at the time; you were far too busy trying to sneak into my room so you could prank the clone I'd left in my bed as a decoy."

Naruto snickered in response to the accusation but didn't bother to try and deny it; that's exactly what he had been doing at the time. Takeshi let out an exasperated huff and rolled his eyes but Naruto knew his cousin was amused because he could feel his cousin's emotions. The fond smile sliding onto Takeshi's face a heartbeat later only confirmed it. Once the moment of shared amusement had passed, Takeshi pulled a small storage scroll out of one of the many pockets in his cloak and tossed to Naruto.

"That has the improved Chakra Suppressing Ward pendant I made for you in it along with a couple of spares in case the one you are wearing is damaged or lost," Takeshi explained as Naruto snagged the flying scroll out of the air. "It also has a dozen of the Temporary Disguise Seals that I designed to hide your hair, eyes, and whisker marks to prevent your father's old enemies spotting your resemblance to him when you're out of the village. The directions on how to apply and remove the seals are included. They're attuned to your chakra signature so you're the only one that can use them."

"Thanks, Keshi-nii."

"You're welcome, squirt," Takeshi replied before he left the room.

As soon as his cousin was gone, Naruto sighed and grimaced at the scroll in his hand. He was touched that Takeshi went out of his way to protect him but there were times when he really hated the fact that he had to hide who he was each time he set foot out of the village. That was especially true when it came to hiding his parentage; he was proud of the fact that he was the son of the Yondaime Hokage.

At least he didn't have to hide who he was when he was in the village. That would have really sucked.

Letting out another sigh, Naruto pushed his dissatisfaction over the need for him to disguise himself each time he left the village out of his mind and quickly skimmed through the directions for the Disguise Tags before he resumed packing.

He started by removing all but one of the new pendants and Disguise Tags from the storage scroll that Takeshi had given him. One of the pendants immediately replaced the old pendant he wore around his neck out of habit while four more were packed amongst his supplies; one in his utility pouch, one is his first aide kit, one in his backpack, and the last one in a hidden pocket inside of his jacket. Four of the disguise seals he'd pulled out were distributed similarly. The scroll holding the last spare pendant and tag and the Disguise Tag instructions was then tucked into his utility pouch until he could give it to Kakashi for safe keeping. The rest of the extras were promptly stored in his dresser for future use.

Naruto then finished packing his spare kunai and shuriken (most of them disappearing into hidden pockets that Takeshi had created in his jacket). The storage scrolls holding his camping equipment, emergency supplies, and spare clothes were then tucked into his backpack along with a box of exploding tags, a roll of wire, two empty storage scrolls, two blank scrolls, and his trap kit. When his clones returned, he'd add the storage scrolls of food and water they'd picked up from the Farm (identical scrolls also being passed to his teammates by another pair of his clones).

Once he finished packing, Naruto set his backpack beside the door where it would be easy to find first thing in the morning before he changed into his pajamas. He'd then make his rounds to say goodnight to everyone; a habit that he'd developed not long after he'd first started living with Takeshi. It was also his way of making certain that his family was both real and safe (there were still times when he feared they would disappear on him or that he'd only dreamed them up in the first place – but that didn't happened anywhere near as often as it had in the beginning).

He would crawl into bed right after he finished saying his goodnights but wouldn't fall asleep until after Takeshi stuck his head through the door to check on him; his cousin's method of insuring that he was safe and where he was supposed to be. Some kids his age would be annoyed if their parents or guardians were constantly checking on them like that but Naruto didn't mind; he liked knowing his cousin cared enough to take the time to check on him each night.

The twelve (and a half!) year old Genin would drift off to sleep just a few minutes later.

It felt like he'd only just closed his eyes when he heard his alarm blaring in his ear early the next morning. Letting out a soft groan of complaint, Naruto rolled over and blindly slammed his hand down on the off switch. He then snuggled back beneath the covers with every intention of going back to sleep. Naruto would bolt out of bed a heartbeat later when he recalled that Kakashi was taking them out of the village on another C-Rank Mission today.

The blond would then spend the next twenty minutes rushing through his usual pre-mission morning routine; which included waking up Housei (who _always_ slept through his alarm), taking a quick shower, pulling on a clean uniform, and double-checking his pack to make certain he hadn't forgotten anything he might need. He would then meet up with Housei and Midori in the kitchen where they found breakfast waiting for them on the table as usual. They quickly ate before they swapped packs in order to check each other's supplies.

That was a routine that Kakashi had drilled into them from the moment they became a team and originally intended as a combination get-to-know-your-teammates-habits exercise and a trust building exercise; since you could learn a lot about a person by the stuff they deemed to be essential to daily function and survival. It also took quite a bit of trust to let someone else paw through your things.

Once they had confirmed that all of them had everything, they trooped out the door and took to the roofs as they made their way to the Hokage's Compound where they were to meet Kakashi. Their perpetually late sensei would show up ten minutes after six and the trio greeted him enthusiastically; the Genin very pleased with the prospect of getting out of the village for a week or two with an added bonus of avoiding D-Rank Missions for the same length of time. Kakashi led them into the Mission Assignment Room just five minutes later where Nara Shikaku was lazily thumbing through the most recent mission requests and ranking them according to risk, difficulty, and priority.

"Good morning, Team Kakashi; are you hear to pick up a new mission or file a mission report?" the Chuunin on duty at the assignment desk inquired by way of greeting.

"We're looking to pick up a C-Rank," Kakashi replied somewhat lazily.

"Do you have a preference for type or destination?"

"No."

"Is your team capable of taking a high priority Search and Rescue Mission?" Shikaku demanded before the Chuunin on duty at the assignment desk could crack open the scroll holding the older C-Rank Missions on file.

"Yes," Kakashi replied as he turned to face the older Jounin.

Shikaku nodded an acknowledgement as he passed a mission scroll over to Kakashi and stated, "Good, your client is the Daimyou of An no Kuni. He has sent in an urgent request for help in locating his missing daughter, Mitsuhira Kayo (who herself is married to the Daimyou of Mitsu no Kuni), and her small entourage. Kayo-dono was making her yearly pilgrimage through Shu no Kuni which separates An and Mitsu to visit her parents when they disappeared. Their trackers were sent out to locate the small delegation but they lost their trail in Broken Neck Pass due to a rainstorm that hit the area at some point after Kayo-dono's group disappeared."

"How long has it been since they first went missing?"

"Roughly five days ago. How soon can you leave?"

"We're packed and ready to go now," Housei replied when Kakashi glanced at the three of them over his shoulder.

"I will have a runner send out a reply to An's Daimyou and let them know we have a team in route and request that they send a contact meet you in Shu no Kuni's western port of call," Shikaku stated as he gestured to one of the Chuunin that were lounging about the room.

"Let's go," Kakashi instructed as he headed for the nearest window instead of leading them back through the building.

Shikaku muttered a complaint about doors being meant to allow one to move through walls under his breath as all three Genin followed their instructor through the window but Naruto ignored it; the man tended to complain about _every_thing. The trio would catch up to Kakashi fairly quickly as he headed straight for the gates via rooftop in order to save time by avoiding the streets. The four of them would drop down to the streets when they reached the large courtyard situated in front of the gates. They made a brief stop at the gate to check out with the Chuunin on duty before they took to the trees and increased their pace.

"Naruto, do you need us to stop so you can apply a henge to hide your hair?"

"Nah, oniisan finally finished the Disguise Tags he was working on for me and I can apply one as we go," Naruto replied as he reached into his utility pouch to grab the one he'd stored in there last night.

"How many of them did you bring and how long do they last?"

"I packed four and brought an extra one for you to hold onto just in case. And they will last as long as I need them to; Keshi-nii set them up so that they have to be manually deactivated in order to prevent them from dropping unexpectedly in the middle of a mission. I left the instructions in with the extra one I have for you to hold onto."

"How complex is the disguise?" Kakashi inquired as he dropped back beside Naruto to collect the spare tag and the instructions.

"Fairly simple, it just changes my eye and hair color and covers up my whiskers," Naruto answered as he slapped the seal onto the back of his neck and channeled a small burst of chakra through the paper.

As soon as his chakra came into contact with the seal, the paper heated up and sank into his skin while leaving behind a chakra imprint of the seal on his neck. A second pulse of chakra then activated the seal and caused the color of his hair to fade from sunshine yellow to straw yellow while his eyes turned a murky hazel. At the same time, the whisker-like birthmarks on his cheek and the disguise seal on his neck faded out of view. He then took the time to fish out the storage scroll holding the spare tag and pendant and passed it over to his sensei.

"Subtle and effective," Kakashi remarked as he buttoned the storage scroll into his flak jacket. "Is it as easy to deactivate as it is to activate?"

"Sort of, I just have to cup my hand over the back of my neck and channel chakra into the spot where I placed the tag until the tag resurfaces so it can be peeled off. The only thing is that I'm the only one that can use or remove them because oniisan keyed them to my chakra signature. And each tag can only be used once."

Kakashi nodded in response before he moved back up to take point while Midori and Naruto fell back behind Housei in what was known as their Travel Formation; the positioning designed to protect the older teen in the event of an ambush since he was their squad's medic in training. The four of them would then spend the rest of the morning making their way to the nearest port in order to catch a ship to Shu no Kuni. They would reach their destination just an hour shy of noon and the three Genin would sit on the dock and eat lunch while Kakashi arranged for their passage south.

By one o'clock, the four of them were on a cargo ship with the coastline off to their right and the open sea to their left as the ship carried them south on the current. Over the course of the next two and a half days, Kakashi had the three Genin working with the ship's crew to learn everything they could about sailing a ship and navigating across empty stretches of ocean by the sun and stars. When they weren't taking lessons from the sailors, they were holed up in the small cabin they were provided with for the trip going over the information they'd been given on the mission and pouring over maps of Shu no Kuni.

The ship they were on would reach Shu no Kuni around mid-morning on the thirtieth of April and as soon as the boat had been secured to the dock, Kakashi was hustling the three teammates over the side. The three of them were then given two hours to explore the small city port while Kakashi hunted down their contact in order to get more information on the last known location of the missing entourage. By silent agreement, Naruto and Midori let Housei pick their direction and the three of them wandered out of the port and into the city where they did a bit of window shopping.

When they passed a small shop selling hand carved wood and stone trinkets, Naruto couldn't resist buying a cherry wood carving of a six inch tall howling wolf for Satoshi. The younger boy adored anything and everything about wolves due to the stories that Takeshi still told him about his birth father. Naruto had actually made it a habit of collecting little wolf trinkets to bring back for Satoshi each time he left the village on a mission. So far he'd brought home six stuffed wolf toys (each one in a different color or different position), a necklace made from old teeth, a small painting of a wolf pair, and a clay tile with a huge wolf track in the center of it.

He also brought back gifts for little Aika, though he never stuck to a specific theme for her gifts. The last gift he'd gotten for her had been a stained glass window with pretty pink cherry blossoms. This time, he bought her a teak carving of a sleeping rabbit that was situated on its back in a little wooden basket and its fore-paws crossed over its chest. The last thing he brought from the trinket store was a small two inch tall jade carving of a toad for himself. Like the gifts he always got for the children, Naruto always bought himself a little something while out of the village and he usually got himself a toad because of the summoning contract his father had held.

As soon as he paid for his three purchases, Naruto sealed them into a storage scroll and tucked it into his backpack so that it wouldn't get lost. Housei teased him (as usual) about buying souvenirs but Naruto teased him right back when they stopped in a candy shop so that Housei could buy a bunch of sweets. The older boy had something of a sweet tooth and loved to try new kinds of candy and treats. Midori wasn't without a vice either and as soon as Housei had paid for his new stash of goodies, the three of them headed to the bookstore so she could buy a map and guide book for Shu no Kuni to add to her collection. She only ever bought maps and guides for those countries or cities they visited as a team.

After Midori had sealed away her new purchases, the three of them wandered back in the direction of the docks so they could meet back up with Kakashi-sensei and find out if he had met up with their contact. They would find the Jounin talking to an unfamiliar man at the meeting place and the three of them hung back to observe the man talking to Kakashi and to scan the immediate surroundings for any signs of trouble. Once they determined that there were no suspicious characters watching their sensei, the three of them approached the pair.

"…lost their trail near the northern entrance to Broken Neck Pass," the stranger finished as the trio came to a stop just a few feet away. "We combed the entire length of the pass but found no evidence that they entered the pass."

"Could they have taken a different route?" Kakashi inquired with a slight frown.

"No, Broken Neck Pass is the only way through the High Neck Mountains. The only other way to get to An no Kuni from Mitsu no Kuni is to travel by ship but Kayo-dono dislikes traveling over the sea unless there is no other choice because she is prone to seasickness."

"Is there any chance that one of her father's or husband's enemies might have taken her hostage?"

"It is possible but unlikely as there was no indication that any one was targeting Kayo-dono and neither her husband nor her father has received a ransom note from a kidnapper. We did not ignore the slight possibility that an enemy of either court was behind her disappearance though; hence the reason why her father sought Konoha's aide in locating her."

"Are there any ruins or caves where a small force could have set up base within the pass?"

"The only thing that one will find in the pass is the haunted ruins of Kubisaki Castle."

"Did you search the ruins for any sign of Kayo-dono or recent occupation?"

"No."

"Why not?" Kakashi demanded as his frown shifted into a scowl beneath his face mask and Naruto could tell that his sensei was a little irritated that such an obvious location had not been searched.

"The castle ruins are haunted and any who trespass on the Kubisaki lands perish without a trace. Kayo-dono's guards would not have allowed her to set foot on the path leading to the castle and any bandits foolish enough to set up camp on the grounds would have been eaten alive by the terrible spirits that haunt the land."

"I see."

"Was there anything else you wished to ask me, shinobi-san?"

"Yes, do you have anything that belonged to Kayo-dono? I will need something with her scent on it so that we can track her."

"I did not bring anything of hers with me as I did not know that I would need it. Shall I send a runner to her parent's and ask them to send something of hers here for you?"

"No, it will take too long for a runner to get there and back. We'll have to make do with the information that you've already given us. If you'll excuse us now, we'll be on our way so that we can make the most of what little daylight is left."

"Of course, shinobi-san; I shall remain here in case you have need of me further."

Kakashi nodded an acknowledgement to the man before he turned to trio of Genin and ordered, "Let's go."

"We're going to search the haunted ruins first, aren't we Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked as the four of them took to the rooftops in order to avoid the crowded streets.

"Hai, nine times out of ten, 'haunted' locations are only haunted because some criminal has taken up residence in them and subsequently chase away any potential witnesses to their illegal activities. The rest of the time, the 'hauntings' are caused by natural phenomena or human imagination."

"And then there's the times when there's an actual spirit involved, sensei," Naruto pointed out as his thoughts immediately flew to the spirits that his cousin had called upon over the years in addition to his father's fixed presence.

"The ghosts that Takeshi calls upon are a unique circumstance and I have yet to run into a spirit that hasn't been summoned forth by your cousin," Kakashi dryly retorted and Naruto couldn't help but snicker as he recalled how Kakashi had reacted the first time he'd seen Takeshi training with Kushina and Minato's spirits.

Kakashi reached out to lightly slap Naruto on the back of his head (for laughing at him) but Naruto ducked at the last second; he was far too used to both of his cousins doing the same thing. Their playful demeanor would drop away as soon as they reached the edge of the port city; their minds once more back on their current mission. The four of them quickly fell into the same formation they had used previously the moment they left the rooftops and took to the road that would take them to Broken Neck Pass (the trees in Shu no Kuni far too small and widely spaced to travel through the tree tops like they had previously).

Team Kakashi would keep their pace to a steady ground-eating lope until well after sunset when they found a sheltered clearing and set up camp. They then ate a light supper before turning in for the night. Kakashi would have them up before the sun the next morning and after a light breakfast of fruit and beef jerky, the four of them hit the road once more. Their second day of travel of would see them reaching the entrance to Broken Neck Pass near sunset and Kakashi had them set up camp outside of the pass before he summoned all eight of his ninken.

Naruto watched his sensei give the eight dogs their orders before they split up into four pairs of two and disappeared into the night to search for any trace of the missing woman they had been hired to find. He and his teammates were very familiar with the small pack of ninken; Kakashi often summoned them on those missions where they needed to track down their target. Most of the time, the dogs would stick around long enough to greet the three Genin except those times when they were called upon to handle a time-sensitive task; such as searching for a missing nobleman's wife.

Once the ninken had vanished in the darkening twilight, Kakashi ordered the three Genin to eat and get some sleep. The trio didn't hesitate to comply and within a half an hour, all three of them were sound asleep. One of the first things that Kakashi had taught them once their team had been formed and long before they'd taken their first mission out of the village, was the ability to drop off to sleep on command. They had also been conditioned to sleep in any number of uncomfortable positions, inhospitable terrains, or inclement weather.

Their sensei's reasoning?

A full night's sleep on a comfortable bed was not always obtainable on missions and it was best they learn how to rest when and where they could while they still had had the luxury of training their bodies to adapt instead of being forced to learn how to do so when their lives were on the line. They had also been taught how to function while suffering from sleep deprivation, how to snap into wakefulness with full awareness without revealing the change in their state of consciousness, and how to cat nap while appearing wide awake.

Naruto actually excelled at the latter type of training because of the way that the Kyuubi's presence (and the steady influx of its chakra) constantly washed away his fatigue. It had been far harder for him to teach his body how to fall asleep on demand though; since he was usually too full of energy to sit still or empty his mind. That was especially true now that he wasn't using any where near as many clones in his daily training as he used to prior to his return to Konoha.

Adopting Takeshi's penchant for using disks for a day-long chakra control exercise helped. Only, instead of trying to work with glass disks, Naruto had taken to collecting interesting pebbles. And like Takeshi's glass disks, each pebble was unique; each one a different size, shape, and texture on top of being made from different types of rocks, minerals, and ores. They were also carved with recall runes so that they could be reclaimed if they ever got lost; though, Naruto couldn't actually recall them himself since he didn't have even a drop of magic. It was easy enough to ask his cousin or one of the elves to recall them for him if he needed them to though.

He'd actually lost count of the number of pebbles he'd collected over the past year as he inevitably brought home a new handful at the end of each mission; even the ones that took place in the village. He'd also lost count of the number of pebbles he held in place on a daily basis as he didn't bother changing them out every day like his cousin did. He only ever changed the ones he was using or added to them once a week or at the end of a mission. There were a few times when he'd even showered with them in place just because of the challenge it offered.

His chakra reserves were even larger than Takeshi's though and that was why he had even more problems than his cousin did when it came to chakra control and excess energy. When he'd asked why they didn't have the same amount of chakra, Jiraiya had told him it had something to do with him having had half of the Kyuubi sealed in him at birth while Takeshi had been nineteen when he'd had the other half of the Kyuubi sealed into him. Apparently, the nine extra years he'd held the Kyuubi had made a big difference when it came to how large his reserves were.

On top of that, he had been born with larger than average reserves due to his Uzumaki heritage; which meant that he'd had far more chakra to start with even before he'd had the Kyuubi sealed in him. His coils were also far more flexible; which allowed his reserves to grow at a far faster rate with only a minimal risk of his chakra coils suffering from the steady influx of the Kyuubi's chakra.

It was the Uzumaki's vast chakra reserves and that coil flexibility that made them ideal Jinchuuriki. Magic users also made excellent containers; providing the bijuu was sealed into them at birth or their magical reserves were large enough to heal the extensive damage caused by the sealing (which eliminated more than ninety percent of the magical population world wide).

Kakashi would wake his Genin up an hour before sunrise so they could dismantle their camp and eat breakfast. As soon as they had finished eating, they headed into Broken Neck Pass at a steady lope using their Sweep Formation. The new formation was basically a mirror image of their Travel Formation with Naruto and Midori running point along the edges of the pass (Naruto to the left and Midori to the right), Housei ten feet behind them in the center, and Kakashi another ten feet behind Housei where he could watch their back trail, keep an eye on all three Genin, and scan for any clues they might have missed.

They'd barely been traveling through the pass for three hours before they reached an overgrown turn off on the right side of the pass. Seated to one side of the turn off, were Guruko and Uhei; two of Kakashi's ninken. Both dogs looked rather nervous as they continuously swiveled their ears back and forth to audibly scan their surroundings while their eyes never stopped moving to visually cataloge the immediate area. Kakashi loudly snapped his fingers (the sound enhanced with a thread of chakra) to wordlessly instruct the trio to switch formations as they turned onto the side path.

Naruto sped up as he crossed the pass while Midori slowed down to fall into step five feet behind him and Housei caught up so that he was five feet behind Midori with Kakashi doing the same (so that he was five feet behind Housei); the four of them seamlessly shifting into the Spear One Formation. As they passed the two ninken playing sentry, Naruto could have sworn he heard Guruko let out a soft whine but soon put the dog's obvious worry out of his mind as he focused on scanning the side trail for tracks, traps, and enemies.

Another hour of travel placed them roughly halfway to the ruins and it was at the midway point that they found another pair of ninken waiting for them; this time it was the mismatched pair of Pakkun and Buru. The reason why the two dogs were waiting for them there was quite obvious as they were guarding the busted remains of a palanquin. The broken pieces of wood had not been in the pass for very long; the wood itself was not weathered or rotten enough to have been there for more than a week.

"Did you find any trace of the missing entourage, Pakkun?" Kakashi inquired as he inspected each piece of the wrecked transport while the three Genin formed a loose perimeter and kept watch for threats.

"No, there have been at least three severe rainstorms passing through the area and the rain obliterated all tracks and any hint of a scent," the talking pug replied sourly. "How much longer are we going to be here? I don't like this place. It feels wrong and there is something seriously creepy up ahead."

"We stay until we find our missing hime," Kakashi answered as he finished inspecting the wreck.

"Kakashi-sensei…?"

"Nani, Naruto?"

"There's something not right ahead of us," Naruto replied as he tried to quell the nausea he felt from the steady aura of negativity he could feel fairly close by. "It's… it's the worst thing I've ever felt not counting Keshi-nii's icy fury."

"Can you pick out which negative emotions you are sensing?"

"Bone deep weariness, echoes of sheer terror, and something deeper that feels like nothing at all; like whatever it is that is feeling it is empty or numb. It's malevolent but it doesn't feel like killing intent."

"Alright, here's what we're going to do," Kakashi stated after he took a minute to analyze Naruto's assessment; the Jounin one of the few individuals that knew about Naruto's empathy. "Pakkun and Buru are going to circle the ruins from the left and I'm going to circle them from the right; we'll be searching for any signs of occupation and note alternative exit routes in case things go south. The three of you, in the mean time, are going to continue down the trail until you sense any hostiles; at which point you will dig in and scout."

"If you make it to the ruins and don't see any sign of an enemy, then you will cautiously proceed towards the ruins to search for signs of our missing hime and the rest of her party. Naruto; you're in charge from this point forward. If at any time, the three of you are attacked, you are to regroup and fall back immediately and set off an emergency flare to get my attention. I fully expect all three of you to watch out for each other from this point forward. Any questions? No? Then let's move out."

Naruto watched both the two dogs and his sensei disappear into the rocky cliffs that lined the trail before he returned his attention to his two teammates. He felt more than a little nervous about being left in charge but the mission's parameters was rather similar to one of the training simulations that Kakashi had put the three of them through in the past. Each of them had been trained to lead in certain situations and this one just happened to be Naruto's specialty because he was essentially a one-man army thanks to his clones.

"We'll continue in the Spear One Formation and follow behind an Invisible Shield with a small group of clones playing rear guard," Naruto stated calmly as he called up exactly one hundred clones (all but three of which transformed into an assortment of wild animals that immediately moved up the trail and spread out to scout for threats) before he moved to take point. "Signs and sounds only from this point forward. Ikuzo."

As one, the three Genin fell back into their previous formation (minus Kakashi) and began stealthily making their way deeper into the mountains. The last three Kage Bunshin that he'd created fell into step behind them; the three clones spreading out so that they formed a line of protection behind the Genin in order to guard against attacks from the rear.

* * *

**Translations:** Japanese to English

An no Kuni – Red Bean Jam Country (also called the Land of Candy in the English subtitles of the Japanese version of the anime)  
Dono – honorific used to denote a lord or lady from what I understand  
Ikuzo – let's go  
Mitsu no Kuni – Honey Country  
Mitsuhira – not quite randomly selected last name for Kayo-dono as I purposefully searched for one with the prefix of 'mitsu' in order to link it to the country that her husband is supposed to be from and this particular name was the one I liked best out of the list of names available.  
Shu no Kuni – Neck Country

**Techniques/Skills:**

Kage Bunshin no Jutsu – Shadow Clones

**Notes:**

Broken Neck Pass – you know, I must have spent well over an hour trying to find the Japanese translation for Broken Neck Pass but even Google Translate only spewed out gibberish. So, I left it as is.

Geographic Locations – the exact locations of An, Mitsu, and Shu no Kuni in relationship to Konoha have not been revealed and so I took the liberty of placing them south of Kaze no Kuni.

High Neck Mountains – author created name for the mountains in which Broken Neck Pass is located.

Invisible Shield – a pack of shadow clones henged as animals that act as forward scouts in dangerous situations.

Kakashi's Ninken Pack – Pakkun (the talking pug), Shiba (the one with the black crest on his head), Bisuke (little one with tattoo on forehead), Akino (one with glasses), Guruko (little one with the hitai-ate on his forehead), Uhei (one with bandages), Urushi (the white one), &amp; Buru (the big black bulldog)

Signs &amp; Sounds – an author created command to communicate through hand signs (sign language) and specific sounds or animal calls instead of using words. It is designed to reduce the chances of an enemy overhearing plans and for use in areas where speaking could draw far too much attention to them.

Things Go South – a reference to things going wrong; a politer way of saying a mission is fubar'd.

* This chapter was partially based on the Naruto Anime Season 8, episode # 194: The Cursed Phantom Castle (title also translated as The Haunted Castle in some translations) which is an anime only filler arc that took place after Sasuke's desertion.

* * *

**10-25-15:** _Minor edits made to chapter to fix spelling/grammar mistakes and removed unnecessary author's notes._


	26. The Kubisaki Castle

**Disclaimer:** _All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies and all Naruto characters are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites._

**Warnings:** _AU for parts of both worlds (i.e. kiss canon goodbye), mild character bashing, mild to moderate violence (there are shinobi involved after all), and a few others that will be announced as they crop up. _

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

**NOTE:**_ Someone had asked for a reminder as to who's who, so here it is:  
_

_Takeshi - Harry  
Arata - Dudley  
Eri - Eloise  
Satoshi - Teddy  
Aika - Dudley &amp; Eloise's daughter_

_Everyone else should be self-explanatory as they are all canon or anime/game extra people._

* * *

**Chapter 26: The Kubisaki Castle**

_Saturday, May 02, 2003, Late Morning  
Broken Neck Pass, High Neck Mountains  
Shu no Kuni_

Naruto slipped off the road and hunkered down behind a small pile of broken rocks while Midori and Housei both took cover in a ditch on the other side of the road. Less than a dozen meters in front of them, the supposedly haunted ruins of Kubisaki Castle loomed in the center of a small valley. The blond felt more than a little uneasy due to the negative emotions he'd been feeling since entering the side pass growing heavier with each step he'd taken into the pass. He also couldn't help but feel like he was being watched all the time.

Shaking his head, Naruto buried his unease as he peered into the valley that opened up off of the road (which was more of an overgrown track) they had been following. The small valley was surrounded on all sides bar the small pass through which the road passed by steep cliffs and was mostly flat bar the small handful of scraggly trees that were scattered about the area. A cold mist clung to the ground, the thin fog swirling endlessly in the faint breezes that were funneled into the sheltered valley via the pass they'd just traversed.

His eyes were drawn to the castle ruins next and Naruto couldn't help but think that the castle was in far better condition than some of the buildings in Konoha despite the fact that the building had been labeled as 'ruins'. There was also a distinct lack of outbuildings that one would expect to find in such a remote area; such as watch towers, guard houses, and storage sheds. He also would have expected there to be a curtain wall built across the pass in order to protect the only entrance point to the valley; though, he supposed the pile of rocks he was currently hiding behind could be all that remained of said wall.

Naruto bit his lip as he tore his eyes from unnaturally undamaged castle to let his gaze skim over the rest of the valley a second time. His earlier uneasiness soon returned as he finally noticed the complete lack of wildlife in the valley; his disguised clones the only thing moving beneath the swirling mist. The blond shuddered in response to the unnatural feel of the valley and the negative emotions that seemed to be coming from nowhere and everywhere. He then turned so that he could communicate with his teammates.

'_Anything?_' Naruto asked using the sign code that Kakashi had taught the three of them.

'_Nothing,_' Housei signed back; his older teammate looking just as uneasy as he felt.

Naruto scowled in response as he returned his gaze to the creepy castle. He then cupped his hands around his mouth and let out a short series of yips that mimicked the sound a fox made when it barked. His henged clones ghosted deeper into the mist to circle their target (the castle) in response to his signal. Once the castle had been completely surrounded, one of his clones dispelled to 'report' back to him and Naruto waved at his teammates to let them know the perimeter of the castle had been secured.

The three of them would abandon their hiding places a heartbeat later and converged in the center of the trail as they entered the valley and carefully approached the castle. Naruto couldn't help but think that the castle certainly had the 'creepy haunted' look down pat between the darkened windows and swirling mist. The fact that the building seemed to be the source of the negative emotions he could sense only added to the sinister ambience that clung to the place.

_Hogwarts was a far cooler castle to visit,_ Naruto thought to himself as the three of them approached the steps leading up to the door of the castle. _It was a real haunted castle too; though those ghosts weren't all that scary. This place is just creepy._

They had nearly reached the top of the stairs when Midori grabbed hold of Naruto's wrist and pointed to a small splash of bright color on the porch that was out of place given the drab color of the castle and the overall dreary appearance of the valley. The blond squinted at the small patch of color before he silently signaled for Midori to inspect it while he and Housei kept watch for enemies. Midori nodded and slipped up the stairs with careful steps until she reached the top.

The kunoichi then crouched down to make herself less of a target (in case the bit of color was bait for a trap) and inched closer to the item. After a brief moment, she twisted around to face Naruto as she signed, '_Pink silk; torn._'

Naruto bit his lip as he and Housei exchanged a brief glance; the scrap of silk had most likely come from Lady Kayo's clothes since the color would have faded if it had sat on the porch for any significant length of time. Actually, if it had been there for more than a day or two, then it would have been carried off by a passing bird to use in its nest. Though, the lack of wildlife in the valley meant that there might not be any birds in the area to have seen it. It was also possible that the scrap of expensive fabric had been placed there sometime in the past couple of hours as bait to draw them closer to the castle.

Frowning, Naruto glanced at the splash of bright color before he glanced out over the small stretch of the valley that was visible from his perch on the second to last step. When he didn't catch sight of any enemies trying to sneak up on them (something his clones would have noticed in any case), he turned back to Midori and instructed, '_Pin it._'

Midori nodded and withdrew a kunai to pin the scrap of silk to the porch so that it would be blown away by the wind; the piece of fabric could potentially give Kakashi's pack something to track if the princess's scent was still on it when their sensei joined them (if they didn't find her first). Midori's kunai would also let Kakashi know that they'd seen the small scrap and that they'd intentionally left it behind without actually touching it because they'd recognized it as a clue to the princess's whereabouts. It was a method of containment that Kakashi had taught them specifically for tracking missions.

It was also a huge mistake.

The moment Midori's kunai pierced the porch, a loud, pained roar had all three Genin clapping their hands to their ears even as the castle shook beneath their feet. Naruto felt himself tumble backwards off the steps before something wrapped around his ankle and yanked him towards the now open door of the castle. He had a brief glimpse of both his teammates being pulled into the castle alongside of him before he felt himself being slammed into a wall. Naruto grunted in pain as his back impacted against the wall before it felt like he'd been pulled through the wall.

He was dropped to the floor a moment later and let out a string of curses when his elbow hit the floor first. Eyes tearing up from the unfunny pain in his funny bone, Naruto scrambled up onto his feet and began looking for Midori and Housei to make certain they were alright. When he didn't see either of his teammates in the room with him, he panicked. The negative feelings that were pressing down on him didn't help because they were ten times worse inside of the castle than they had been outside and it took him several minutes before he managed to calm himself down.

Once he could think straight, he glanced about the room again. The room was mostly empty bar a pair of ancient suits of samurai armor that bracketed the archway leading into the room and an odd painting of what looked like a feudal lord that was hung on the wall directly opposite the entrance. Naruto felt uneasy as he stared at the painting for a moment; his thoughts automatically going to the magical paintings he'd seen and talked to. The suits of armor, however, radiated the malevolent emptiness that he'd been sensing since they'd entered the pass leading to the Kubisaki Castle.

Shaking his head, Naruto pushed aside his memories of the months he'd spent in England and turned away from the rather creepy panting. He then brought his hands up to form a cross with his index and middle fingers. A few seconds later, a dozen Kage Bunshin burst into existence in a cloud of chakra smoke. As soon as the clones finished forming, he ordered them to henge into birds and spread out through the castle to search for his missing teammates.

"What the hell!?" Naruto exclaimed a heartbeat later as he literally watched the walls of the room he was in come to life and kill every single one of his clones; dozens of slimy tentacle-like appendages lashing out at the twelve flying clones to prevent them from leaving the room.

When he saw several of the tentacles heading in his direction, Naruto dug into the outer left-hand pocket of his jacket and grabbed a handful of shuriken that he flung at the slimy ropes. Each time a shuriken struck its target, another pained roar would echoed through the room and the entire castle would shake. The pre-teen was grabbed from behind by a pair of the tentacles a moment later and he let out a cry of disgust as the slim quickly soaked through his clothes. As he felt himself being pulled backwards, Naruto dug out a kunai and cut himself free.

A horrified look slipped onto his face when he was splashed with blood as the pieces of tentacle he cut off dropped away from his body while the part still attached to the wall frantically thrashed in pain before they withdrew into the wall.

The castle was _alive_!

And it had just_ eaten _him and his teammates!

"Oh, hell no!" Naruto bellowed angrily at the mere idea that he and his teammates were going to be eaten by some freak building. He then brought his hands back up to form the cross seal with his hands as he loudly cried, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" This time, fifty of clones appeared in a burst of smoke; each one of them armed with a replica of the kunai he'd been holding in his hand. All fifty-one of the Narutos present then simultaneously yelled, "Team Kakashi is nobody's lunch, dattebayo! Attack!"

The small army of blue and orange clad Narutos surged forward and began cutting and slashing their way out of the room; some of them not even bothering to aim for the archway as they cut through the walls instead. Many of the clones died as the floor came alive beneath their feet but enough of them survived that they were able to cut their way free of the room that they had been imprisoned in. The rest of the castle was no better than the room he'd ended up in though and Naruto had to produce a second wave and third wave of clones to sustain his assault on the living castle.

At some point, the blond Jinchuuriki discarded his kunai and started using his father's Rasengan to tear through the walls as he and his clones swarmed through the castle in search of his teammates and the missing princess. All around him, the castle shuddered, shook, and shrieked as Naruto and his clones viciously lashed out time and time again at the thing that had taken his teammates… his _friends_ from him.

Three walls later, he found himself in what _should_ have been the entrance hall of the castle; several doorways leading deeper into the castle, a wide staircase leading higher, and a blank stretch of wall that _should_ have held the exit. Naruto created what must have been an eighth wave of clones to join those that were still with him and watched them split up to search the rest of the castle while he approached the wall that was supposed to hold the door leading outside. He didn't even get within ten feet of the wall before a barricade in the form of two dozen white spikes pushing up from the floor slammed together with another two dozen that dropped down out of the ceiling just a scant few inches from his face.

It only took him a moment to realize that he was looking at a row of large, sharp teeth and that he could have been caught between them if he'd gone even one step closer. Naruto swallowed thickly as he stumbled backwards away from the death trap that had literally snapped shut in front of his face. Once he recovered from the brief scare, Naruto formed another Rasengan and attempted to smash through the house's teeth only for him to end up being blown backwards when the chakra sphere failed to scratch the giant teeth.

That alone told Naruto that that wall was the way out.

He was in the middle of trying to come up with another way to break through the barricade separating him from the exit when several of his clones dispelled and sent him memories of seeing Housei being sucked into the ceiling by dozens of slimy ropes. Abandoning his efforts to force his way out of the house, Naruto sped up the stairs and did his best to ignore the way the staircase twisted and swayed beneath his feet. As soon as he reached the first landing, the castle went eerily still beneath his feet and Naruto froze for a moment before he shook off his shock and made for the next flight of stairs.

Halfway up that second flight of stairs, Naruto brought his hands together once more to form another fifty clones when he felt a wave of eagerness surge through the building. Anything that made a creepy, flesh eating building eager couldn't be a good thing in Naruto's mind. Ignoring the knot of dread that had formed in his stomach, Naruto sped up as his clones fell into step beside and behind him. They hit the second flood landing a heartbeat later and half of the clones peeled off to search the second floor for any sign of Housei while the original Naruto and the rest of his clones continued upwards.

Once they reached the third floor, Naruto and his clones attempted to run down the left hand hallway instead of heading up the next flight of stairs (so he could search the rooms above where he'd last seen his teammate) when the house attacked yet again. Naruto skidded to a stop as he caught sight of white spikes (teeth) rising out of the floor. Several of his clones weren't as observant and Naruto turned a little green when the deadly barricade of teeth snapped shut on the clones and he received the memories of what it felt like to be bitten in half.

Naruto slammed his fist into the wall of teeth before he was forced to jump backwards when the floor twisted under his feet to form what looked like the insides of some giant beast. He then ducked down and retreated further when several of the slimy tentacles formed from the ceiling and walls and reached for him. The castle would chase him back across the short stretch of hallway that he'd managed to cover before his path forward had been blocked. As soon as he had backed up onto the landing at the top of the stairs, the attack immediately stopped.

Surprised, Naruto paused for a moment to catch his breath before he crept forward once more (the blond thinking that the house was trying to keep him away from his teammate). He'd barely gone three steps before the castle launched another attack that would again stop as soon as he retreated. His attempt to head to the right of the landing produced the same results. A single attempt to go downstairs was also met with the same result while the one attempt he made to go upstairs had not met any resistance. In Naruto's mind, that meant that the castle _wanted_ him to go upstairs.

And the last thing _he_ wanted to do was _any_thing that the _thing_ trying to devour his team wanted him to do.

Naruto brought his hands up one more time to form the cross seal for the Kage Bunshin and focused his thoughts on how _happy_ Midori and Housei had been when they'd received the official papers naming them as wards of the Namikaze Clan. They may not share any blood but they were _family_ and Naruto would _not_ let some stupid, ugly, creepy looking castle keep them. Determination filled the blond as he stopped channeling chakra to the pebbles he had stuck to his body and redirected that chakra into his jutsu along with every ounce of chakra he could spare.

"Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu," Naruto bellowed at the top of his lungs a heartbeat later.

Well over a thousand blond clones materialized in a giant explosion of chakra smoke; the bodies filling up the entire staircase, the third floor landing, and much of the hallway off of the third landing in either direction. The castle groaned shuddered beneath the feet of the many Narutos for several seconds before it went still; as if the living building was holding its breath. A split second later, over two thousand orbs of pure chakra formed on both hands of each clone and the army of blonds roared out a demand to give him back his teammates before they attacked the house en mass.

The next five minutes were a blur in Naruto's mind as he and his clones tore the haunted castle apart instead of just cutting through the walls like they previously had. The castle tried to crush his clone army in return but there were just so many of them that its attacks had become completely ineffective except in the cases where a group of less than fifteen clones were caught on the fringes. Just picking off the stragglers at the back of the back or those rushing ahead leading edge of the army was not enough to slow, let alone stop, the mass of angry clones.

At the end of those five minutes, the castle let out a pained groan before it exploded into smoke and Naruto and his army of shadow clones soon found themselves stranded close to thirty feet in the air above a stone foundation. Several feet above them, an ancient scroll that had once rested within the tallest tower of the castle was left suspended in the air when it too had been left behind by the castle. The blond had but a split second to curse the stupid castle of doom for leaving them hanging like that before gravity caught hold of him and dragged him down.

Naruto screamed as he twisted around in midair to see the stone foundation of what used to be a large castle rushing up towards his face as he plummeted towards the earth. All around him, his clones echoed him as they floundered in midair. Half of the clones falling alongside of him then got the bright idea to transform into birds to save themselves before they hurriedly landed below Naruto and began forming a living tower that rose rapidly into the air to prevent him from being splattered on the foundation.

The blond met them a mere eight feet off the ground and the tower collapsed inwards on itself as his clones began exploding into smoke from the impact. Those clones of his that had not taken the opportunity to henge into feathered forms or that tried to change too late were dispelled at the same time as they slammed into the ground just a few seconds after Naruto hit the top of the clone tower. The few clones landed on the foundation a moment later, a couple of them bursting from heavy landings while the rest survived.

One clone would have the misfortune to catch the falling scroll on its head just as it was letting out a relieved sigh at surviving the fall; the poor clone dispelling with a squawk of dismay while one of its neighbors caught the scroll in his arms before it could hit the ground and shatter.

A wave of exhaustion slammed into him as he settled on the stone just a few seconds later due to several hundred clones being dispelled all at the same time. The headache that followed on the heels of the clones' combined memories was nothing to sneeze at either and Naruto groaned weakly as he curled up in a ball and clutched at his pounding head. Those of his clones that had managed to survive the ordeal spread out to protect the original and search for the others. His teammates would actually find Naruto and his clones first.

"Naruto!" Midori cried as she forcefully pushed her way through the protective ring of clones that had surrounded the original. "Are you okay, Naruto!?"

"Hurts," Naruto whimpered as he curled up tighter when his teammate inadvertently dispelled several more clones in her rush to get to him.

"Housei! Hurry up and get over here! Naruto's hurt!" Midori bellowed and Naruto let out a low whine in response to the way her loud voice seemed to make the pain in his head rip pierce deeper his brain.

"Budge up, clones," Housei ordered as he began pushing his way through the protective ring around Naruto. "Go guard the princess or something." The older boy dropped down beside Naruto a moment later and began checking him over for injuries. "Where are you injured, Naruto? I see lots of blood but I'm not finding any cuts."

"Head. Too many," Naruto rasped out as tried to wriggle away from Housei's hands when the older boy hit a couple of his ticklish spots.

"Too many what?" Housei inquired as he shifted his hands up to pull Naruto's hands away from his head to check for a head injury.

"Clones."

"There's nothing I do to help you with that," Housei muttered as he dropped his hands down to peel Naruto's jacket off of him before he folded it up to form a makeshift pillow that he slid under Naruto's head and neck. The older teen had been made aware of the risks involved in dispelling Kage Bunshin in large numbers after he had been designated as their team's medic. He'd also been taught how to deal with the negative backlash of dispelling too many clones (which was basically sleep it off and don't let any remaining clones be dispelled until it was safe). "Go to sleep; we'll watch over you and make sure the rest of your clones aren't dispelled."

Naruto complied readily enough; he'd only remained conscious as long as he had because he'd been worried about his teammates. When he finally woke up again, it was well after sunset. As soon as he opened his eyes, he discovered that he'd been moved into the tent that he and his teammates often shared on missions and tucked into his sleeping bag. He sat up gingerly and immediately regretted it as wave of dizziness passed through him at the same times as his head began pounding once more.

Hands grabbed hold of him a moment later and gently aid him back down on the bed before Kakashi instructed, "Don't move, gaki; you're body is still recovering from your reckless stunt with your Kage Bunshin."

"I wasn't gonna let some dumb possessed castle eat my teammates," Naruto growled as he reopened one eye and all but glared up at his sensei.

"I wasn't implying that you should have; I was merely pointing out the fact that you could have found a better way to go about getting everyone out," Kakashi dryly pointed out. "And for the record, it wasn't a possessed castle that was trying to eat you; it was a powerful summons that had been trapped in this world. You're lucky that the creature didn't take you, your teammates, and our missing princess with it when you and your clones managed to damage it enough to force it to dispel."

Naruto scrunched his face up in distaste as he thought about what might have happened to him and the others if the summons that had eaten them had taken them with it. He shuddered a moment later as he imagined being trapped inside of the creature for the rest of his life. When he had first learned about summoning contracts, he'd thought they were kind of cool and he had been looking forward to signing the Toad Contract on his fifteenth birthday. Jiraiya had originally offered to let him sign several months ago but Takeshi had asked him to hold off on that for at least another year.

At the time, Naruto hadn't understood why his cousin had not wanted him to sign the contract yet. Now, he thought he might understand; summonses were not just cool pets that could fight and talk; they were powerful beings that could just as easily kill you as help you. Sure, the little ones like Kakashi's ninken seemed harmless enough but Naruto had seen Pakkun (the smallest of the pack) take down a fully grown man on his own. And he knew from stories his father had told him that some of the Toads were large enough to flatten a row of houses with a single jump.

The summons disguised as the creepy castle had been huge and it had been able to transform itself into a building.

"Hey, sensei; if the castle was a summons; then where was the summoner? Couldn't he just call the summons back to attack us again?"

"There is always a risk that that could happen when you are facing a summoner but in this case I don't think that is going to happen. From what your clones told me when I arrived, you and your army of clones significantly injured the creature with your attacks and it will take time for it to recover from the attack; if it lives through its injuries. I also suspect that the summoner of this particular creature is no longer amongst the living due to the fact that your clones somehow got their hands on the summoning contract and that would only happen if the summoner discarded it or if they died."

"Why would someone discard a summoning contract? Aren't they really rare and valuable?"

"They are not as rare as most people would have you believe. It is the Great Contracts, those that encompass an entire animal family as a whole (such as the Toad Contract) that are considered rare. The Minor Contracts, those that are linked to a single species or specific individual, are rather common. The contract I have with my pack is a Minor Contract since I am only allowed to summon the eight ninken that I trained and not the rest of the Dog Clan. The contract your clones picked up was also a Minor Contract, for the Chameleons, because they also fall under the Lizard Contract; which is one of the Great Contracts."

"As for why a summoner would discard a contract…? There are potentially many reasons. Some summonses are seen as weak or useless because they are not all that powerful or have a very limited skill set. Then there are those summonses that demand tokens or tributes that a summoner is either incapable or unwilling to provide. And then there are instances when a summons will reject the summoner because the summoner does not meet the conditions that they require of a summoner."

"For example, I didn't have the chakra reserves necessary to claim the Dog Contract at the time I had signed it but was still allowed to form a sub contract with the eight individuals that make up my pack. I could probably claim the Dog Contract now, if I wanted to since my reserves have more than tripled since I first signed the Dog Contract, but I won't because I am happy with my current pack. We've been together for years and work well together so there is no need for me to seek out new summonses."

"I wonder if that is why Keshi-nii told Jiraiya no when Jiraiya offered to let me sign the Toad Contract back in January," Naruto mused out loud.

"Er, no; your cousin refused to let you sign the contract this year because the Toad Boss requires all new summoners that pass his initiation test to drink sake with him before he will accept them," Kakashi corrected. "And Takeshi wasn't about to allow Jiraiya to encourage you to drink alcohol before you'd even hit puberty."

"Huh, guess that explains why I saw Jiraiya walking around in a pink tutu and pigtails when he finished talking with Keshi-nii that day."

"Did you have any other questions?"

"What's going to happen to the summoning contract that my clones found?"

"It belongs to the Namikaze Clan now, since you were the one that found it; whether or not you sign it is up to you and your cousin."

"Urgh, I think I'll pass; I don't wanna see that stupid castle again, dattebayo! Housei or Midori can have it, if they want it."

"Neither one of them has the chakra reserves to sign even a Minor Contract right now; though it is considerate of you to think of your teammates. If one of them is interested in the Chameleon Contract, then they will need to build up their reserves first. That is something that they will need to discuss with Takeshi first though; since he is their sponsor and the head of the Namikaze Clan."

Naruto shrugged his shoulders and opened his mouth to reply only for his stomach to speak up first; a low rumbling grumble filling the tent. Kakashi arched his visible eyebrow at him before he let out a soft snort of amusement and Naruto gave him an embarrassed grin in return.

"Sounds like someone is mostly recovered now," Kakashi drawled a moment later. "I guess that means that I had better send your little co-conspirators in with supper so they can see for themselves that you'll survive."

Kakashi backed out of the tent as soon as he finished talking and less then eight minutes later, Midori and Housei were crowding into the tent to hug him and ply him with food. The three Genin then spent the next hour sharing their separate experiences inside of the false castle. By the time they finished comparing notes, all three of them made the unanimous decision that they didn't want anything to do with the Chameleon Contract; they were just too creepy. Naruto even went so far as to silently declare that the Chameleon Clan was creepier than real ghosts.

At the end of that hour, Naruto crashed again and slept through the night. When he woke up the next morning, he felt far better than he had when he'd gone to sleep and his head no longer felt as if it was trying to bash its way out of his skull while twirling in place. After a quick breakfast, Team Kakashi packed up and gathered up the missing princess and her entourage before they escorted their charges out of the pass. From the moment they moved out, one of Naruto's many shadow clones would dispel every thirty minutes until the last of the clones he'd created to fight the castle were gone.

As soon as they cleared the pass on the morning of the fourth, Lady Kayo and her people were handed over to her parents' men and Team Kakashi headed home. Once they hit the port and booked their passage north, the three Genin were given two hours to explore and they bought their usual round of souvenirs before they returned to the docks and boarded the ship. They would be dropped off at a tiny little port just five miles north of the border between Kawa no Kuni and Hi no Kuni two days later and they would leisurely make their way back to Konoha on foot with Naruto removing the seal disguising his hair and eyes when they were nearly home.

The four of them would stroll through the main gate of Konoha around supper time on the tenth of May and head straight to the Hokage's Tower to report the successful completion of their mission. The news that they had taken possession of a Minor Summoning Contract during the mission would see their team being awarded a tidy little pay bonus for bringing a new contract into the village. At the end of their debriefing, Team Kakashi would be given seven days off to recoup from the mission and Naruto was ordered to present himself to Tsunade first thing in the morning for a medical check-up.

"I still don't see why I have to have a stupid check-up," Naruto grumbled under his breath as he followed Housei and Midori out of the Mission Room while Kakashi disappeared through the nearest window. "I mean, it's not like there's anything wrong with me now."

His teammates merely rolled their eyes and ignored his whining; they were long used to hearing him complain any time he was ordered to see a medic for any reason. They were just exiting the Tower when Naruto was plowed into by a small boy several years older than Satoshi wearing a bright yellow shirt with the Konoha leaf on the front, a long blue scarf, and a white helmet with an angry smiley face on one side, a small red dot on the other, and a hole through which his brown hair stuck out. The poor kid bounced off Naruto and landed on his butt when Naruto automatically stuck his feet to the ground with chakra to keep from being knocked off his feet.

Long used to being tackled by his otouto (which was why he'd taken to using chakra to stick his feet to the ground when he was bumped into), Naruto simply sighed as he reached down and lifted the kid back up onto his feet by the back of his shirt as he drawled out, "Oi, keep your eyes open if you're going to run about like you own the place, pipsqueak; not all of the brick walls you run into around here will be nice enough to pick you back up and dust you off."

Housei snorted in amusement as he commented, "What is it with you and snot-nosed gaki crashing into you? I swear, every time we step through a door there is someone trying to tackle you!"

"That's because my otouto is far too predictable and you refuse to step into the apartment first," Naruto retorted as he stepped around the bewildered boy that had run into him as the three Genin continued on their way. "Otherwise you would be the one being tackled once in a while."

"And get in the way of Satoshi-kun greeting you after we've been gone for days? I don't think so! The gaki's like a leech once he grabs hold of a body."

All three teammates laughed fondly at the very apt description of the young metamorphmagus; Satoshi tended to get a little clingy when Naruto and Takeshi returned from their longer missions. Naruto really didn't mind though. He loved being hugged by his family; it reminded him that he was no longer alone.

They were just drawing close to the small curtain wall that enclosed the Hokage's Compound when Naruto reached out to latch onto the two teens as he exclaimed, "Come on! Let's hurry up and get home. I want to take a shower before we hit Ichiraku's for ramen. It's been far too long since I've eaten the food of the gods, dattebayo!"

If the three Genin had bothered to turn around before they broke into a run and took to the rooftops, they would have seen the kid that had run into Naruto gaping after them in shock over the fact that Naruto had both admonished him and _not_ apologized for being in the way while the other two had not really acknowledged him at all.

* * *

**Translations:** Japanese to English

An no Kuni – Red Bean Jam Country (also called the Land of Candy in the English subtitles of the Japanese version of the anime)  
Kawa no Kuni – River Country

**Techniques/Skills:**

Kage Bunshin no Jutsu – Shadow Clones  
Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu – Multiple Shadow Clone Technique

**Notes:**

Broken Neck Pass – you know, I must have spent well over an hour trying to find the Japanese translation for Broken Neck Pass but even Google Translate only spewed out gibberish. Someone had actually given me the translation for this, I think, but the PM they sent it to me in (or was it a review?) has been buried and I got too frustrated trying to find it again (both so I could reply, if I didn't already) and so I could use the translation. So, I left it as is.

Geographic Locations – the exact locations of An, Mitsu, and Shu no Kuni in relationship to Konoha have not been revealed and so I took the liberty of placing them south of Kaze no Kuni.

High Neck Mountains – author created name for the mountains in which Broken Neck Pass is located.

Kakashi's Ninken Pack – Pakkun (the talking pug), Shiba (the one with the black crest on his head), Bisuke (little one with tattoo on forehead), Akino (one with glasses), Guruko (little one with the hitai-ate on his forehead), Uhei (one with bandages), Urushi (the white one), &amp; Buru (the big black bulldog).

Naruto's rampage – now before anyone starts complaining, there are several reasons why I went with the one-man army to destroy the summoned chameleon instead of having Naruto hunt out the contract. One, he was angry about being separated from his two teammates. Two, the chameleon didn't have any time to initiate the whole spirit genjutsu thing that it had used during the filler arc because it attacked in retaliation to the perceived attack it felt when Midori tried to pin the piece of silk to it. And three, Naruto was panicking a bit over the house trying to eat him and his teammates.

There are other reasons too but those three were the biggest ones. I also have several reasons why I didn't have Naruto draw on the Kyuubi's chakra. First, the one-man army scene here replaces the one-man army that took down Mizuki since the Mizuki Incident didn't occur in this universe. Second, Naruto knew both of his teammates were still alive (or at least he didn't think that they were dead or even 'like dead') so he didn't lose it like he did in the Wave Arc. And third, he has far more knowledge regarding the seal &amp; the Kyuubi due to Minato's ghost spending so much time with him and Harry over the past 3-4 years and he therefore knows not to recklessly tap into the Kyuubi's power.

* This chapter was loosely based on the Naruto Anime Season 8, episode # 194: The Cursed Phantom Castle (title also translated as The Haunted Castle in some translations) which is an anime only filler arc that took place after Sasuke's desertion.

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**AN: **_Running a day late but on the plus side, I actually have two chapters to post this weekend instead of just one like last weekend; I'd spent yesterday and most of today wrapping that second chapter up so I could finish the missing arc that was holding updates for this fic up. _

_Anyway, as per the norm for the past few weeks, I've also updated the first 14 chapters of this story and will update the next 14 tomorrow as well as posting the next chapter. All updates were fairly minor and mostly grammatical in nature so there is no need to go back and re-read the entire story unless you want to. ~ Jenn_


	27. The Hokage's Grandson

**Disclaimer:** _All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies and all Naruto characters are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites._

**Warnings:** _AU for parts of both worlds (i.e. kiss canon goodbye), mild character bashing, mild to moderate violence (there are shinobi involved after all), and a few others that will be announced as they crop up. _

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

**Chapter 27: The Hokage's Grandson**

_Saturday, May 10, 2003, Early Evening  
Konohagakure no Sato, Hi no Kuni_

Eight year old Sarutobi Konohamaru (or as most of the village called him, Honorable Grandson) was the only grandson of the Sandaime Hokage. He was also an orphan; his mother had died from injuries she had received during a kidnapping attempt two hours after she'd given birth to him and his father, the Sandaime's oldest son, had died on a mission just two months later. Due to how busy his grandfather was running the village and the fact that his ojisan (Sarutobi Asuma, his father's otouto) had only recently returned to Konoha, meant that he had been raised by nannies.

Through the years, he'd had no less than eight nannies; each and every one of them trained shinobi. The reason why he was not being raised by civilians was due to the kidnapping attempts from people looking to hurt his grandfather or use him as leverage to make his ojiisan dance to their tune. Out of those eight babysitters, only two of them were still alive; one of them was his current minder and the other one had been permanently crippled less than a year ago when there had been yet another failed attempt to steal him away from his bed.

Once Konohamaru was old enough to understand that his nannies were more guards than guardians (right around his sixth birthday), he'd begun to resent their presence. Oh, most of them had been nice to him and they had been rather good at their job (no one had ever managed to get their hands on him, after all) but he hated the way they smothered him. He also hated the fact that they were _not_ his family and that they refused to call him by his name. The eight year old was still young enough that he didn't quite understand why his grandfather couldn't take care of him.

He knew his grandfather was the Hokage and that running the village took a lot of work (or so he'd been told) but that didn't tell him why his only family couldn't spend time with him.

Konohamaru had latched onto the idea of becoming Hokage in place of his grandfather shortly after his seventh birthday so that he could make the rules and make his grandfather spend lots and lots of time with him instead of holed up in his office with mountains of boring paperwork.

And as soon as the Hat was his, he was going to order everyone to _never_ call him Honorable Grandson again.

Ever since the day he swore to take the Hat from his grandfather, Konohamaru had plotted, planned, and executed well over a thousand attacks upon his grandfather. Many of them had been carried out within hours of each other but some of them had taken him weeks to plan and set up. So far, none of his attempts had been successful, though.

Tonight, when his grandfather had been late for supper (_again!_), Konohamaru had set into motion his next attempt to take the Hat when his plan had been derailed before he even made it inside of the Hokage's Tower. He'd been all set to sneak into the Tower through the main entrance after he'd given Ebisu (his current nanny-guard slash supposed elite trainer) the slip but he'd slammed into a brick wall the moment he tried to run inside. He'd promptly bounced back and fallen on his butt when the wall hadn't even had the decency to stumble backwards!

Said brick wall had then manhandled him! Dared to pick him up by the back of his shirt!

And he'd called Konohamaru a pipsqueak!

Him!

The Honorable Grandson!

A pipsqueak!

Konohamaru had been all set to take his attacker down until he looked up and found himself staring up at a blond haired boy that couldn't be more than three or four years older than him. It was the shiny hitai-ate boldly displayed on the boy's forehead that had stolen his tongue though. The brick wall he'd run into had been a _shinobi_! And a kid.

It boggled the mind.

One of his _grandfather's_ shinobi had manhandled him and called him a pipsqueak.

And then he had walked off without apologizing for being in his [Konohamaru's] way!

The other boy with him had even dared to call _him_ [the Hokage's favorite (only) grandson] a snot-nosed gaki.

All thoughts of ambushing his grandfather and forcing him to come home for supper (after handing over the Hat to Konohamaru, naturally) had fled as he watched the trio of young shinobi walk away from him without another word. They hadn't even given him a second look once the blond had stepped around him. And aside from the strange wordy admonishment for him to watch where he was going, those shinobi hadn't really even spoken to him.

For one blessed moment, Konohamaru had known what it was like to be _normal_ and _insignificant_.

As he watched, the three shinobi (kids like him, even if they were older) left the Hokage's Compound and leapt up onto the nearest roof before they disappeared in the blink of an eye. Stars filled Konohamaru's eyes; those shinobi had been so _cool_!

Especially the brick wall.

He just _had_ to know who they were.

It had taken Konohamaru the rest of Saturday and all of Sunday to put together a plan to find out the name of the blond brick wall. Once he had a plan, it too him all of five minutes to sweet talk his ojisan into squealing like a stuck pig. All he had to do was threaten to tell his uncle's 'not-girlfriend' that he'd seen him chatting up another kunoichi on his lunch break while she was out on a mission. And it was even true; though, the kunoichi he'd been chatting up had been the Hokage's secretary and Asuma-oji had merely been trying to get her to let him in to see jijii without an appointment.

That didn't mean his laid-back uncle wanted to deal with the hassle of trying to explain that to his 'not-girlfriend'.

Konohamaru conveniently overlooked the fact that the information he was seeking wasn't actually classified and that his uncle had been amused (and not terrified) by his threat. His uncle had also been curious as to why the eight year old had suddenly been so keen on learning the name of a certain blond haired, blue eyed, bewhiskered Genin. Konohamaru didn't really care that Asuma had only been 'playing along' with him to satisfy his curiosity.

He had a name.

Namikaze Naruto.

Now, Konohamaru wasn't stupid. He knew all about the Namikaze Clan. _Every_one knew about the Namikaze Clan. The return of the prestigious clan with ties to the Yondaime Hokage had been big news. Still was big news, actually. The eight year old just hadn't been all that interested in them because the clan's return had taken his grandfather's precious time and attention away from Konohamaru. It had therefore surprised Konohamaru that the son of his grandfather's late successor was the brick wall that had stood in his way the other day.

At the same time, Konohamaru only felt it was appropriate that the first shinobi to acknowledge his [Konohamaru's] ordinariness was the Honorable Son of the late Konoha no Kiiroi Senko.

Who else could truly understand Konohamaru's plight but another boy raised under the shadow of the Formidable Hat?

It was a rather simplistic view but give the kid a break, he was only eight. (Almost nine, if you asked him; his birthday was only six months away, after all.)

Armed with a name and a starting point (the Namikaze Wheelhouse) to find his adversary, Konohamaru spent the rest of Sunday night packing his 'mission' pack and making plans. The moment his classes at the Academy had ended on Monday afternoon, the industrious eight year old had bolted home to put his plan into action.

The first step of his little plan required him to bait his fishing pole (with his grandfather's gold edition of Icha-Icha Arts: The Collection of Icha-Icha Models). The second step had been to distract Ebisu by dangling said bait in front of the closet pervert's nose to distract the man so that Konohamaru could sneak out. Once his nanny-guard was preoccupied, Konohamaru slipped out the backdoor, snuck across the courtyard of the Hokage Compound, and hurried out into the village proper with an amused (and unseen) ANBU Guard in tow.

* * *

_Monday, May 12, 2003, Mid-Afternoon  
Konohagakure no Sato, Hi no Kuni_

Twenty-two year old Uchiha Shisui (aka Shunshin no Shisui and ANBU Code Name Kawauso) smirked to himself as he trailed the Hokage's grandson out of the Hokage's Compound. The little twerp was certainly entertaining. He could also be rather creative when he put his mind to it. Shisui was certain the little gaki would grow up to be a right proper little prankster if he didn't break under the stress of living in his grandfather's shadow.

And if Shisui had subtly… encouraged and nurtured the little gaki's efforts; well, the Hokage wasn't likely to complain when said encouragements only increased the kid's chances of surviving to see his next birthday each year.

Half an hour after sneaking out of the Hokage's Compound, Shisui watched as his charge hunkered down in the middle of a flower bush right beside the staircase that led to the private apartments above the Namikaze Wheelhouse. The elite Jounin barely suppressed the urge to palm his face when he realized the Hokage's grandson was staking the place out for some absurd reason. The kid could not have picked a worse family to spy on. The volatile Head of the Namikaze Clan had quickly earned a reputation for being intolerant of those that targeted his family for any reason.

As he took up a perch on the roof of the Namikaze restaurant (so that he could quickly drop down to extract his charge if necessary), Shisui noticed one of the highly intelligent and half feral cats that belonged to the Yondaime's Clan slink up to the bush where Konohamaru was hiding. A feeling of impending doom filled Shisui; those damn cats were not mere 'pets', no matter what the Namikaze Family claimed. As the member of a clan that worked closely with shinobi trained felines, he knew a 'ninken' when he saw one.

Shisui was just seconds away from using the Shunshin no Jutsu to swoop in and rescue the youngest Sarutobi when the cat sneezed out a laugh and sauntered away with its tail-tip wriggling in obvious amusement. Bemused, Shisui relaxed when he realized that the cat had just categorized his charge as 'not a threat'; something that he only recognized due to his Clan's long-time association with the Cat Clan (by virtue of their ownership of the Feline Summoning Contract). He was still worried that the Hokage's grandson was going to get himself in trouble but he no longer thought there was a chance that his charge might be mistaken for a true threat.

The masked shinobi was just settling in to watch Konohamaru watch the staircase when he caught sight of Namikaze Takeshi strolling around the corner. Letting out a soft sigh of resignation, Shisui prepared himself to intervene when the dark haired shinobi Chuunin slowed to a stop a scant three yards away from Konohamaru's hiding place in order to stare at the pair of sandals that were peeking out from the base of the bush. As his Sharingan blazed to life, Namikaze snapped his eyes upwards to briefly meet Shisui's gaze through his porcelain mask.

The slightly older man then let out a thoughtful hum before he resumed walking. Shisui tensed the moment the man drew even with the bush where the eight year old was hiding but remained where he was when the man merely continued past the shrub without giving the hidden child another glance. Shisui reluctantly let go of his Sharingan as soon as Namikaze was halfway up the staircase since it was obvious that the man wasn't going to do anything to Konohamaru. The man was just passing directly beneath Shisui's perch a moment later when his voice floated up to the on-duty ANBU Guard.

"You know, I do believe that the azaleas are looking a little dry."

As if the phrase was a trigger, the sprinkler system installed in the flowerbeds below sprang to life and drenched the young Sarutobi from head to toe before they shut off again. Shisui let out a soft snort of amusement when he got a brief glimpse of the smirk on Namikaze's face just before the man disappeared inside of his apartment. Down on the ground, a soaked Konohamaru crawled out of his hiding place looking something like a drowned kitten. If not for the man's soft words, Shisui might have thought the impromptu shower mere coincidence instead of the prank it actually was.

Konohamaru shook his head to get rid of the excess water before he attempted to wring the water from his clothes. The eight year old then sent a determined glare at the Namikaze Apartment before he moved to hide under the stairs; the kid entirely unwilling to give up his stake-out. Shisui had to give the kid props for sheer stubbornness; he was not the type of gaki to be easily deterred by a simple prank.

Of course, that only made Shisui curious about why his charge felt the need to spy on the Namikaze family in the first place. As far as he was aware, the Hokage's grandson had not had any contact with the family since they had arrived in Konoha almost two years ago. And Shisui should know; he'd been assigned as one of the gaki's unseen guards for two and a half years ago (officially assigned to Konohamaru's protection detail on the kid's sixth birthday a mere two days after an assassination attempt on the child had been foiled by the boy's nanny and previous guard).

The twenty-two year old would receive a partial answer some eighteen minutes later when Namikaze Naruto (formerly Uzumaki Naruto) exited the apartment with the young Namikaze Satoshi happily perched on his shoulders. Like his cousin, Naruto quickly noticed the presence of both Shisui and the poorly hidden Konohamaru; only the Genin didn't bother to prank the hidden eight year old. No, the bewhiskered blond had the little gaki perched on his shoulders do that; the miniature blond with green eyes dropping a paint-filled balloon through the stairs.

Naruto had then given his little passenger a high-five before he bounded the rest of the way down the stairs and headed off towards the newly built Namikaze Estate; the five year old on his shoulders shrieking in laughter. Konohamaru had crept out from under the stairs coated in bright pink paint and Shisui had to smother his snickers of amusement least he give away his presence to his charge. The kid wiped his face clear of paint a moment later before he took off after the two blonds; a look of fierce determination on his face.

Shisui easily kept pace with his charge from the rooftops while his thoughts turned to the past.

Uchiha Shisui was the youngest son of Uchiha Kagami and his second wife, Uchiha Junko. He had two older half-brothers; Obito and Inabi. As the 'baby' of the family, Shisui had been doted on by his parents and Obito but Inabi had resented both of the younger boys; Obito because their mother had died giving birth to him and Shisui just because their father had married Shisui's mother just two months after their mother had died. Inabi would only grow colder towards Shisui when it became obvious that the youngest brother had inherited all of their father's talent.

Inabi, on the other hand, was an all around average Uchiha; he had graduated from the Academy around the middle of the class at age eight, awakened his Sharingan at age ten, and promoted to Chuunin at age seventeen with no hope of ever achieving a higher rank. By contrast, Shisui had graduated at the top of his class at age six, awakened his Sharingan a month shy of his eighth birthday, awakened the Mangekyou Sharingan at age nine (during the Kyuubi's attack), promoted to Chuunin at age eleven, promoted to Jounin at age twelve, and inducted into the ANBU Corps at fourteen.

On top of that, Shisui had earned himself the nickname Shunshin no Shisui for his Kage level mastery over the Shunshin no Jutsu and had a reputation as a highly skilled Genjutsu user. Inabi, on the other hand, had not earned any special titles or recognition and had been shunted into the Konoha Police Force the day after he'd earned his flak jacket. Of course, part of the reason why Shisui grew so fast was because the Third Great Shinobi War had erupted before he turned three and all of Konoha's children were pushed; especially those that showed any talent.

Shisui's middle brother had not done as well under the pressure. The general consensus of the clan was that Obito was a failure who had graduated at the bottom of his class at age ten, was promoted to Chuunin (by sheer dumb luck, according to Inabi) and awakened his Sharingan at age twelve, died shortly after awakening his Sharingan and broke Clan Law by gifting a Sharingan Eye to a non-Uchiha teammate.

Inabi had sneered and proclaimed their brother worthless but Shisui had been proud to call Obito his brother and had greatly admired him.

Sure, the older boy had been something of a klutz and he was always late to everything but he'd had a heart of gold and a proper sense of humor (something most Uchiha seemed to lack). Obito saw the good in everyone; even those who tended to act like jerks (like Inabi). He'd also had a soft spot for the elderly, young children, and pets. Especially cats; Obito had always been obsessed with cats and the goofball would have just loved the Namikaze cats. The cats, in turn, had loved Obito and they had followed him _every_where.

If he had lived, Shisui was certain that his favorite brother would have eventually signed the Feline Contract the moment he had the chakra reserves to handle the contract. Even if he couldn't sign the Great Contract, Obito probably would have settled for a Minor Contract with the Cats just for the privilege of having cats he could call his own. If not for Inabi being allergic to cat dander, Obito probably would have brought home every single stray he ran across. Shisui still fed the strays that lived on the Clan's Estate in honor of his brother.

Shisui had also done his level best to fill his brother's shoes when it came to protecting their younger cousins the same way that Obito had once protected him. Those had been some pretty big shoes to fill though and Shisui eventually ended up sharing them with Itachi. There were times when Shisui felt as if he'd failed both his brother and his cousin; if he'd been stronger and smarter, then maybe Itachi wouldn't have been forced to take up the mantle of Uchiha Clan Head at the tender age of fourteen.

Pushing away the guilt he still felt over what he considered his greatest failure, Shisui took the time to insure that there were no threats approaching his charge (who was still trailing after the Namikaze pair) before he allowed his thoughts to drift back to his older memories.

Shisui was not ashamed to admit that he had bawled his eyes out the day he'd learned of Obito's death. It was as if someone had ripped the sun out of the sky and Shisui couldn't stand the Obito shaped hole that had been torn out of his heart. The loss of his favorite brother had cut so deeply that there were _still_ days when he felt like he couldn't breathe; though those days didn't come as often as they once had. Obito's death had also broken something in their father and while he didn't seek death, he also didn't _live_ any more.

His mother had tried to keep Kagami grounded but as much as he knew his father had loved his mother, his father had loved Obito and Inabi's mother first and Obito had been part of his first wife. Uchiha Akemi had died bringing Obito into this world and losing him had meant that their father had lost another piece of his first love. That Inabi had been steadily growing further apart from their little family had only made things worse because it meant that their father was losing the last link to Akemi.

It was the pain that Inabi caused to their father that made Shisui grow resentful of his oldest brother. Well, that and the insults that the teme had heaped upon Obito both before and after his death. Inabi's decision to side with Fugaku on the matter of Obito's surviving Sharingan (which had been transplanted into his teammate) hadn't exactly endeared him to Shisui either. Unlike most of the Clan (and Fugaku – the Uchiha Clan Head at the time – in particular), Shisui had been thrilled to learn that Hatake Kakashi had been given one of his brother's eyes because it meant a part of his brother still lived.

It meant that his favorite brother could still see him and Shisui embraced his inner prankster in his brother's honor so that Obito would know he hadn't been forgotten and that he was _missed_.

Once he'd awakened his own Sharingan (just a few weeks after Obito's death), Shisui had secretly helped Kakashi train his second-hand Sharingan; meticulously copying all of the Sharingan scrolls for the older boy. If he had been caught, he would have been harshly punished by the clan but his father had shielded him from discovery and provided him with appropriate training material to pass along. Kakashi had in turn taught Shisui a number of jutsu that he'd been taught or that he would later copy through his Sharingan out of gratitude for much needed training.

The war had ended not long after Obito's death but the village remained uneasy and tense for several months longer. The Yondaime Hokage was sworn in about the same time and the charismatic Jounin had soon lifted the village out of its depression. For two years the Konoha had thrived beneath the leadership of Namikaze Minato and a grudging peace had settled over the Elemental Nations.

And then their world had been torn asunder when the Kyuubi had attacked the village out of the blue.

If losing Obito had ripped a hole in Shisui's heart, the night of the Kyuubi's attack had gouged out pieces of his soul.

So many people had died that night and over the course of the next two or three months.

A number of them people he'd been close to.

His father had died trying to stall the Kyuubi so that the civilians could be evacuated. His mother had died of chakra poisoning a week after the attack. His kunoichi teammate had been crushed beneath an apartment complex when one of the Kyuubi's tails had struck the building just as they were running past it on their way to the emergency shelters behind the Hokage's Monument. Shisui had pulled his other teammate out of the way in time to save him but Yamanaka Inoko had tripped over a piece of rubble and her hand had been torn from his.

Shisui's eyes had burned when he'd turned around in time to see Inoko's pupil-less blue eyes fill with terror seconds before she had disappeared beneath a wall of concrete. He probably would have died that night as well if not for his other teammate, an orphan by the name of Mitate, dragging him to the shelters. He would later learn that he'd developed the Mangekyou Sharingan as a result of his belief that it had been his fault that his teammate had died.

Fugaku had been thrilled over the development when Inabi had told their older cousin; his oldest brother jealous of the fact that Shisui had once again surpassed him. Shisui had been horrified once he had learned that the man (and a good portion of their entire clan) was pleased that he [Shisui] had profited from his teammate's tragic death. The crushing guilt he felt over his failure to save Inoko was what pushed Shisui grow stronger (and faster) so that he'd never again have to watch someone precious to him die.

And he still hadn't been good enough to prevent the clan from tearing itself apart in another man's useless bid for power that would have destroyed the village.

Shaking his head in irritation, Shisui once again pushed away his memories of the failed Uchiha Coup so he wouldn't have to remember the hate he'd seen in Inabi's eyes when he'd killed his brother to save Itachi.

Keeping his mind firmly on the present, Shisui focused half of his attention on the unfolding drama below as the two Namikaze boys finally confronted their stalker just outside of the Namikaze Estate. The rest of his attention was on the immediate surroundings since this part of the village had significantly less traffic than most other sections; though that was slowly changing thanks to the Namikaze Clan building their new estate there.

"Is there something I can help you with, pipsqueak?" Naruto asked in an exasperated tone as he swung the younger blond off of his shoulders.

"How did you do it?" Konohamaru demanded and Shisui nearly winced beneath his mask when he heard the sheer level of desperation in the eight year old's voice.

"How did I do what? Fill the balloon with paint? That's was easy; I used a funnel."

"No, not that; I already knew how to make my own paint bombs!"

"Then what…?"

"How do you make them _see_ you? You're the son of a Hokage but they don't call you Honorable Son. They know your name and they see you instead of the Yondaime. Please…? I have to know how to make them see me before I forget my own name because people won't stop calling me Honorable Grandson!"

Shisui swore the bewhiskered blond aged decades by the time Konohamaru had finished pleading with him. Hell, even Shisui felt older than he was after hearing the raw pain in his charge's voice.

"Ignore them."

"Huh…?"

"Ignore the people that call you names you don't like to be called. It doesn't matter if they are calling you Honorable Gaki or if they are calling you dobe; ignore them all. When they start turning blue in the face because you won't listen to them, tell them your name. Don't yell at them though, that never works; they'll just call it a temper tantrum and ignore you instead. If that still doesn't work, you can always try the Namikaze Approach."

"What's the Namikaze Approach?"

"Prank 'em till they bawl like babies," Naruto replied with a smirk and Shisui felt amusement bubble up inside of him as he recalled the descriptions of some of the pranks that Naruto had pulled both before he'd disappeared and after he had returned with his cousins in tow. If those two teamed up, the Hokage wouldn't know what hit him.

"Naruto-nii's pranks are the bestest; they're second only to my otousan's pranks," Satoshi chimed in from where he was clinging to the older blond's left leg.

"That's only because Keshi-nii cheats," Naruto groused before he picked the younger boy up and held him upside down with one arm while tickling his stomach with his free hand.

"Oyabun," Konohamaru gushed as stars of admiration formed in his eyes. "Teach me!"

"I don't know; what do you think, Satoshi? Should we teach this nameless pipsqueak the proper way to prank?"

"Are you sure we should, niichan? He looks awful girly covered in pink paint like that."

"That's because you dropped a paint bomb on me!" Konohamaru yelled as he visibly twitched in annoyance over being called girly by the five year old.

"We could always test him," Naruto suggested in a thoughtful tone.

"Test? What kind of test?"

The two Namikaze exchanged a single glance before Naruto smirked at Konohamaru and replied, "We'll play a little game of tag and if you can catch both of us, then I'll teach you one of my favorite pranks."

"Yosh! I'll catch you both no problem; I'm the fastest kid in my class!"

"Alright; what's your favorite color?"

"Blue, why?"

"I hope you have good aim," Naruto stated as he pulled a large bag of blue balloons out of his jacket pocket that he handed to Konohamaru and Shisui did a double take as he tried to figure out how the gaki had fit that bag in a small pocket; it hadn't been a storage seal – there had been no flare of chakra as he pulled out the bag. Frowning at the blond, he watched as Naruto pulled an orange balloon from a different pocket and promptly broke it over Konohamaru's head. "Tag; you're it, pipsqueak."

Naruto and Satoshi both laughed manically in response to the prank before they split up and took off running. Orange paint dripped down over Konohamaru's head as the eight year old stood unmoving for a long minute before he let out a war cry and took off after Naruto with a blue balloon in each hand. Shisui didn't bother trying to silence the small laugh that slipped through his lips in response to the way Naruto had goaded Konohamaru into losing his temper. He would laugh several more times over the course of the next two hours as the three boys waged war against one another with the paint filled balloons that two Namikaze gaki kept pulling out of their clothes.

By the time they had worn themselves out, all three of them were covered in a mess of pink, orange, and blue paint. They were also grinning widely and Shisui couldn't remember the last time he'd seen Konohamaru that happy. He started smirking a moment later as it occurred to him that Konohamaru's pranks were probably going to show a marked increase in both effectiveness and originality. His heart ached for a brief moment as he thought about how much Obito would have loved to have witnessed this moment.

Hell, Obito probably would have been right in the thick of it.

Shisui's thoughts were pulled away from his absent brother when he sensed someone approaching the small clearing where the three boys were practically asleep. Half a minute later, Namikaze stepped into view and Shisui watched as the Chuunin paused to pull a camera out of his pocket so he could snap a picture of the trio. He then tucked the camera away and did something with one of his daggers that drew the paint from the youngest Namikaze, formed it into a large ball, and turned it green before it was promptly dropped onto Naruto.

Namikaze then put away his dagger, picked up his son, and wandered out of the clearing whistling a jaunty tune while Naruto loudly called him a cheater. Namikaze's laughter drifted back on the wind a moment later.

"Can we prank him back?" Konohamaru asked as he eyed the globs of green paint that had hit him due to how close he'd been to Naruto when the older boy had been tagged by his cousin.

"Most definitely, pipsqueak."

"I'm not a pipsqueak!"

"Well, what else am I supposed to call you? It's not like you ever introduced yourself."

"I'm Sarutobi Konohamaru and I'm going to be the next Hokage just as soon as I can take the Hat from jijii!"

"Heh, that's brings back a lot of memories, dattebayo. I used to want to be the Hokage too."

"What do you mean used to? Why wouldn't you want to be the Hokage anymore?"

"I'm far too young to face the greatest evil in the world."

"Nani!? What are you talking about?"

"One word; paperwork. There is nothing more evil than having to face endless piles of paperwork that always threaten to bury you alive."

"Paperwork really is evil; it keeps jijii from spending time with me," Konohamaru sadly agreed. "He's always missing supper because he's always working late."

"So, do something about it."

"What do you mean?"

"If the evil paperwork is keeping him from his supper, then pack up his supper and take it to him. Make a picnic out of it and then you'd get to spend time with him while he eats and he gets a short break from his paperwork."

"That's… that's perfect, oyabun!" Konohamaru proclaimed as he tackled the blond. "Can I come play with you and your brother again after I finish my classes tomorrow?"

"Sure."

"Would it be alright if I bring my friends?"

"Sure; we can even drag my teammates along and have a proper paint war next time."

"Yosh!"

Shisui mentally snorted in amusement over the fast friendship the two boys had formed over a single afternoon as Ebisu finally turned up to drag Konohamaru back to the Hokage's Compound. As he trailed after his charge, Shisui tuned out the lecture that the older Jounin was trying to give the eight year old about the dangers of running off. It was a lecture that Ebisu had given the kid at least once a week since the day he'd been assigned as Konohamaru's guard and Shisui wondered why the man never tried to approach the matter from a different direction since it obviously wasn't working.

Shisui dismissed that line of thinking a moment later as they reached the busier streets so that he could focus on not losing sight of his charge as Ebisu dragged the boy home.

* * *

**Translations:** Japanese to English

Kawauso – river otter  
Konoha no Kiiroi Senko – Konoha's Yellow Flash  
Ojisan/oji – uncle  
Ojiisan/jijii – grandfather  
Oyabun – boss  
Shunshin no Shisui – Shisui of the Body Flicker  
Yosh – an enthusiastic affirmative; can be translated as yes, okay, alright, etc

**Techniques/Skills:**

Shunshin no Jutsu – Body Flicker Technique

**Notes:**

Icha-Icha Arts: The Collection of Icha-Icha Models – Author created Icha-Icha picture book featuring bikini shots of the kunoichi that inspired Jiraiya's research (those that didn't try to kill him for spying on them, at least).

OOC'ness – I'm pretty certain that I horribly maimed Konohamaru's and Shisui's characters in this chapter and the only thing I will say in my defense was that this was my first attempt at writing both of them. They are both characters that I like but I know so very little about them. That is especially true in Shisui's case. Still, I don't think I did too badly based on what I do know, even if how I portrayed them isn't exactly canon. Their background stories are mostly cobbled together as well; simply because at the time I wrote this chapter, there wasn't really all that much information on them.

So, any complaints about how there are far too pranksters in this story [Harry, Weasley twins, Naruto, Izumo, Kotetsu, Housei, Midori (because Naruto &amp; Harry were a bad influence on them), Konohamaru, Moegi, Udon (because Maru-chan dragged him with him), Obito (prior to his 'death'), Shisui, Iruka, and the Marauders (of course)] will be ignored since most of them are pranksters in canon. I will also ignore complaints that snipe at my decision to orphan Maru-chan from birth or make Shisui Obito's younger brother.

* * *

**AN: **_You know, this chapter was originally supposed to be all about Konohamaru (hence the title) but it some how ended up being more about Shisui's personal history. Damn Shunshin no Shisui swept in so fast that I didn't even know he was taking over the chapter until he'd already done so. Well, I suppose I should at least be happy that Konohamaru had his five paragraphs of fame. I also managed to have a bonding moment between Naruto and Maru-chan._

_Anyway, just a few things before I end this note here. First, I'm going to ignore any complaints about me having Shisui activate his Mangekyou at age nine or how it happened. I'm also going to ignore any demands to know more about what happened during the attempted Uchiha Coup; that story will be explored from another PoV later in the story. And no, I'm not going to tell you who's PoV it will be from since I haven't actually decided yet. For those who have complaints because I didn't give Ebisu any lines I will apologize; he was too wrapped up in Icha-Icha Arts to cooperate._

_I think that covers everything I needed to cover. If not, well it will probably come up within the story at some point. ~ Jenn_

**11-21-15:** _Minor edits made to chapter to fix spelling/grammar mistakes and removed unnecessary author's notes._


	28. Murphy's Law

**Disclaimer:** _All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies and all Naruto characters are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites._

**Warnings:** _AU for parts of both worlds (i.e. kiss canon goodbye), mild character bashing, mild to moderate violence (there are shinobi involved after all), and a few others that will be announced as they crop up. _

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

**CHAPTER WARNING:**

_This chapter (and the entire Wave Arc) contains a MAJOR divergence from canon. If that is something that will offend you because you have a Canon Purity Obsession, you might want to close your browser out and find a different story to read because this story's purpose is not to regurgitate the original story. Any complaints or flames that bitch about the changes I made will be ignored or deleted depending on contents. _

_You have been warned and if you chose to ignore those warnings, then that is your problem; not mine._

* * *

**Chapter 28: Murphy's Law**

_Saturday, August 02, 2003, Afternoon  
Konohagakure no Sato, Hi no Kuni_

Harry tried not to fidget impatiently while he waited in line to grab his team's next mission. He'd drawn the short stick that morning when Kotetsu decided that he was bored enough to want a mission outside of the village. Normally, Yamato would be the one to pick up a new mission for their team but the Jounin had been sent out of the village on a high priority mission not that long ago. Before the Jounin had left, the three Chuunin had been given permission to either take gate duty or take missions for the month that Yamato expected to be gone.

They had originally opted to take gate duty since it would have been a rather nice change from their intense training sessions and the grueling missions that Yamato inevitably rustled up for them. Kotetsu had lasted a full two and a half days of gate duty before he cracked under the strain of boredom and declared that he needed to be entertained. The end result was that the two older Chuunin had pulled the age and experience card and sent Harry to fetch them a C Ranked mission that would take them out of the village for at least a week.

Eventually, the line of shinobi in front of Harry waiting to collect a mission for the day dwindled until Harry was standing in front of the mission desk facing Iruka and the Hokage, "Konnichiwa, Hokage-sama; Iruka."

"Hey, Takeshi," Iruka replied with a smile while the Hokage absently grunted a response as the older man flipped through his paperwork. "What brings you here today? I thought that you were on gate duty with Kotetsu and Izumo?"

"Kotetsu decided that he was bored and the two of them promptly volunteered me to collect his entertainment in the form of a mission that involved travel and a week or two's worth of vacation time out of the village."

"I'm surprised that Kotetsu lasted as long as he did; he hates gate duty," Iruka quipped with a laugh that Harry echoed as the older Chuunin flipped through the list of C Ranked missions still available to see if he could find an escort mission.

As he was waited to see what Iruka could find, Harry found his attention diverted by the arrival of Team Kakashi. The twenty-three year old wizard soon found himself being glomped by all three Genin; the three teens (or near teen in Naruto's case) behaving as if they hadn't seen Takeshi just six hours earlier when they'd eaten breakfast together.

"Keshi-nii, what are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be on gate duty?" Naruto demanded once the trio of Genin had settled down and released the Chuunin.

"I am and I was but Kotetsu got bored and after a short team meeting, I was drafted to pick up a mission that we could take instead."

"Here you go, Takeshi; I have a C Ranked mission to escort Tazuna the Bridge Builder back to Nami no Kuni and guard the bridge he's building from a gang of local bandits."

"Sounds perfect; travel, a sea-side vacation, and entertainment all rolled into one," Harry commented with an amused snort as he accepted the scroll from the Chuunin. "That should keep Kotetsu happy for at least a couple of days before he grows bored again."

The other shinobi present laughed over that declaration since they were all aware of just how short of an attention span Kotetsu had and how easily he grew bored. Once their amusement faded, Iruka signaled for Harry's client to be brought in so that he could be introduced to the Chuunin. Harry turned to face the door when it opened to reveal his team's client and the wizard took a moment to intently study the bridge builder.

The man was easily in his fifties or sixties with pewter gray hair that stuck up in disordered spikes about his head, an equally gray beard and mustache that were neatly trimmed, and small oval glasses that looked too small for his face and were obviously intended for reading based upon how low they sat on his face and how comfortable he appeared with them there. He wore a sleeveless dark gray tunic belted around his waist, a white towel draped around his neck, and tan pants that ended mid calf.

The man was also very obviously drunk despite the fact that it was only two in the afternoon.

The man didn't improve Harry's first impression when he opened his mouth and drunkenly demanded, "You're sending me with a trio of wet behind the ears gaki? I requested a team of shinobi… not a team of children! The midget in orange doesn't even look like he could scare a squirrel, let alone a bandit!"

Harry growled in response to the insult directed at his cousin but was prevented from verbally threatening his client when the Hokage spoke up first, "Please do not insult my shinobi, Tazuna-san. All of Konoha's shinobi are trained professionals that are more than capable of doing the jobs for which they are hired and we diligently work to assign each mission to the team or individual that is most suited to handle our clients' requests; regardless of their age. That said, Team Kakashi was not the team that has been assigned to escort you back to Nami no Kuni; that honor was given to Team Yamato."

"Sumimasen, Hokage-sama; no insult was intended. I was just shocked to learn that children were allowed to become shinobi."

"Shinobi are not made overnight, Tazuna-san; they begin training from the moment they show an interest in learning the shinobi arts," the Hokage pointed out after silently acknowledging the man's apology. The aged shinobi then signaled for Harry to step forward as he continued, "This here is Takeshi; he is the Chuunin in charge of the team escorting you back to your bridge."

The Hokage's declaration that Harry would be leading the team was enough to snap Harry out of his anger and he cast a startled glance at the older man before he adopted a blank mask as he turned back towards his client and stated, "Please allow me to escort you back to your hotel while we discuss the mission details and our travel schedule."

"Will I get to see you before you leave, niisan?" Naruto asked loudly as Harry began herding his client out the door.

"Most likely, Naruto-kun; unless you leave the village on a mission before I get home," Harry replied and he had to suppress a smirk when he saw Tazuna flinch and grow pale as the man immediately realized that the kid he'd insulted was related to the man in charge of the team that had been assigned to escort him home. Once they were clear of the building, Harry let his focus shift to the upcoming mission as he inquired, "How many people are traveling in your group, Tazuna-san? And did you arrive in Konoha on foot or do you have a wagon with you to carry supplies?"

"It's just me and I walked to Konoha; I didn't come to purchase supplies, I came to hire someone to stop the bandits and thugs that keep harassing my workers."

"Roughly how many bandits are we talking about?"

"I don't know; a few dozen at least," Tazuna replied with an unmistakable undertone of bitterness while he twitched and fidgeted nervously. "Their boss is pretty ruthless too; threatening anyone and everyone to get what he wants and unafraid to have those that dare to defy him beaten and executed."

"And I take it that he sees your bridge as a rather major act of defiance on your part?" Harry asked leadingly as he watched the man out of the corner of his eye.

"Yes."

"What are the chances that the bandit leader had you followed the moment he knew you were leaving to hire help?"

"I don't know. I didn't tell anyone other than my foreman, my family, and one friend where I was going and I slipped away in the dead of night. I never saw anyone following me and no one attacked me on my way here."

"So basically a fifty-fifty chance since whoever was sent might have trailed you just to see where you were going and what you were doing instead of killing or capturing you while you traveled," Harry mused to himself before he fell silent as he carefully considered the situation until the two of them arrived at the hotel where Tazuna was staying while in Konoha. "Thank you for answering my questions, Tazuna-san; I will meet you right here at six forty-five tomorrow morning in order to introduce you to my teammates. Please do not be late as I would like to leave Konoha as soon as the main gates open at seven."

"Hai, shinobi-san," Tazuna agreed with a wince in response to Harry's desire to leave so early in the morning. "Ano… shinobi-san, you do know that I didn't really mean those things I said earlier about your otouto, ne?"

Harry purposefully gave the man a blank look before he walked away; he might not maim the man for insulting Naruto (he was a client, after all) but that didn't mean he wouldn't let the man sweat for a bit. The only reason he hadn't once considered pranking the man was because of the fact that the Hokage had basically told him that he'd be leading the mission; meaning he had to be on his best behavior and stay focused on the mission.

_That was probably one of the reasons why the Hokage did it,_ Harry thought to himself as he headed for the Ranch in order to prep one of his wagons for the journey to Nami; there was no sense in leaving Konoha on foot when any potential hostiles would expect them to be traveling on foot.

As he walked, Harry created four Kage Bunshin and sent one to let Kotetsu and Izumo know they had a mission, one to start gathering non-perishable supplies (such as extra weapons), and the final two to keep an eye on his client through the night to make certain the man wasn't harmed while inside of the village. After taking another two steps, he created one more clone that he sent to warn Arata and Eri of his pending mission. He'd barely taken two more steps before he paused and wondered when he'd stopped thinking of his cousin as Dudley and he supposed it probably had a lot to do with how thoroughly his cousin and his wife had embraced their new life.

That realization made Harry wonder if there would ever come a day when he shed his old identity completely or if he'd forever cling to the last remnant of his old life (his name) until the day he died.

As he started walking again, Harry let his thoughts swirl around everything that his birth name meant to him. What that name represented to him and the bonds that had been formed during his first nineteen years of life under that name. As he reached the next intersection, Harry stopped once more and stared off to the west… towards the portal… towards the doorway to his past and to the world he left behind. He then made his way up to the nearest roof and let his eyes take in the village that had become home to him at some point during the past twenty-two months.

Harry shelved his contemplations when he realized that he was wasting time and Shunshined directly to the Ranch so he could enlist the help of his elves in preparing the horses and wagon he'd be taking. While he was there, he checked on the mares that were carrying foals, on the foals that had been born within the last six months, and the yearlings that were almost ready to begin their training. He even stopped to give attention to a few of the kneazles and kneazle mixes that were running about the Ranch (some of the latter descendants of Tora and the rest descendants from the few strays that Harry had taken in from around the village).

After visiting with the five elves that ran the Ranch, Harry popped over to the Farm to ask the five elves there to prepare enough food for ten people for a full month. They could supplement their supplies with fresh meat and fish as needed but the situation with the bandits probably meant that there would be little in the way of fresh produce and grains to be found when they reached their destination and Harry preferred not to tax the local supplies. Food and transportation set, Harry made his way back to his flat above the Namikaze Wheelhouse in order to pack his personal supplies and dig out a set of portable ward stones to protect their camp at night.

Halfway home, Harry found himself with company in the form of Uzuki Yuugao.

Harry greeted the vivacious kunoichi warmly as he tried to suppress the rush of emotions the woman's presence had begun to stir in him ever since he'd first saw her without her ANBU mask. His track record with romantic relationships was deplorable and while he knew there was no chance that Yuugao was a fan-girl, he just couldn't bring himself to ruin the friendship he had with the purple haired kunoichi. It didn't help that his experience was so limited when it came to the fairer sex and relationships. That didn't stop his heart from skipping a beat whenever he heard her voice, it didn't stop his stomach from doing back flips when she smiled at him, and it didn't prevent his eyes drinking in her beauty each time he saw her.

"You're preparing for a mission," Yuugao stated without preamble as she fell into step with him without breaking her stride.

"Hai; Kotetsu was bored."

"That doesn't surprise me; though I am surprised it took him this long to grow bored with gate duty."

"He originally wanted a break from Yamato's grueling training between missions and I think he enjoyed the down time in front of the gate for the first three hours before he began sighing dramatically and twitching nervously. I think the only reason that he didn't say anything sooner was the fact that Izumo flat out told him he wouldn't last a day on gate duty before he got bored."

Yuugao laughed and Harry found it infinitely harder to ignore the growing crush he had on the younger woman. He glanced sideways as a small, lopsided grin tugged at his lips in response to the fact that he'd been the one to make her laugh; his eyes tracking the wild swaying of her long, purple hair as he tried not to think about the way his fingers itched to run through that glorious mane of silken threads. Pupil-less chocolate eyes dancing with amusement met his for the briefest moment before Harry shifted his gaze forward while a slight flush crept up the back of his neck over being caught staring.

"Where are you going and how long are you going to be gone?" Yuugao asked once her laughter trailed off.

"Nami no Kuni and we'll probably be gone at least two weeks if not closer to three; depends on how long it takes for the client to finish his bridge," Harry replied in a low voice after letting his eyes sweep the immediate area for potential eavesdroppers. "We'll have a small bandit infestation to deal with but for the most part we'll just be standing watch over the unfinished bridge to make certain nothing happens to it or the workers that are building it."

"So, basically, you've just traded guard duty at the main gate for guard duty on a bridge?"

"Yep… makes me wonder if Kotetsu will appreciate the irony."

The kunoichi laughed again and Harry was torn between feeling inordinately pleased with himself for amusing his crush and castigating himself for letting her laughter affect him. He hadn't quite brought his emotions under control when the two of them reached the Wheelhouse and Yuugao bid him goodbye after ordering him to be careful on his mission. He watched her go for a moment before he sighed and made his way around to the back of the restaurant where the stairs leading up to the living suites were situated; he had a mission to prepare for.

* * *

_Sunday, August 03, 2003, Morning  
Traveling though Hi no Kuni_

Harry whistled a jaunty tune under his breath as he scanned the road in front him from Felix's back while one of his Kage Bunshin drove the wagon and another two Bunshin trailed along behind the wagon (all three clones henged to look like random people). Kotetsu and Izumo were henged to look like children and were currently running along the road in front of Harry to scout the way forward. Tazuna was sulking inside of the wagon; the man less than pleased that Harry had sealed away his sake first thing that morning before he told the man to get in, sit down, and shut up (though his exact words were far more politely worded).

The wizard wasn't quite certain which had upset the man more; the fact that Harry had taken his booze or the fact that Harry implied he didn't want to see or hear from the man for the duration of the trip.

There was a method to his madness though; he wasn't taking the risk that Tazuna would be spotted by one of the bandits if the man had been followed all the way to Konoha. To further the deception, Harry had left behind two clones, one of them henged as Tazuna, to hang about the gates for another hour or two before his second clone (henged as a Weasley) escorted him out of the village near ten. That would give any potential stalkers a visible target to focus on and allow Harry to place close to eight miles between them and the potential watcher. The clones would then dispel at the end of the first day's travel in order to make their trail completely vanish to further confuse any potential stalkers.

Some might think that Harry was being overly paranoid but the wizard hadn't survived for as long as he had by ignoring his hunches and his survival instincts had only been further honed during the past two years. Even if there was no one following the bridge builder, taking precautions meant that any scouts watching the routes into Nami would be less likely to spot Tazuna returning. Having his two teammates disguised as children also meant that their group would have a better chance of being dismissed as relatively harmless.

The first day of travel would pass uneventfully with the group camping off the road near sunset. Tazuna's mood improved a bit when he was allowed out of the wagon after Harry warded their camp against intruders of the two-legged variety. The second, third, and fourth day passed by without any trouble as well and the group made excellent time. On the afternoon of their fourth day of travel, Harry set up camp early and made the wards slightly more permanent as he'd be leaving both the wagon and the two shire horses behind as they continued on foot (there currently no way to get the wagon and heavier horses across the water available to them).

One of Harry's elves would see to it that both the camp and the horses remained undisturbed and well looked after once they continued on their way.

Before sunrise on the fifth morning, Tazuna led the trio of shinobi to a secluded cove where the man had made arrangements to meet up with his friend in order to hitch a ride back across the ocean to the small island country. There was a small argument when Tazuna's friend saw Harry leading Felix (the wizard currently using the Andalusian as a pack horse) and refused point blank to carry the horse in his boat. Harry gave the man a disdainful look before he led the gelding out onto the water; the magical Chuunin circulating his chakra through the soles of his feet, his horse's hooves, and the first two inches of the water that sat directly beneath their bodies in order to create enough surface tension for both of them to walk on the water.

He couldn't extend his chakra enough to escort more than one horse over the water that way and it wouldn't work for non-living objects like the wagon but a single pack horse or an unburdened shire horse was doable. He probably could have created an ice bridge to take the wagon over but that would have required far more magic than he wanted to expend right that moment. Kotetsu and Izumo were both doing their best not to laugh at the two civilians as they openly gawked at Harry leading a horse across the ocean's surface. The two older Chuunin then climbed into the boat; they would ride with the client in order to watch over the man while Harry scouted the way forward.

Once the boat was moving, Harry disillusioned himself and Felix so they wouldn't be as noticeable. He couldn't do much for the chakra aura he was putting out (what with the way he was circulating his life force through himself, the gelding, and the water) but he was at least able to contain the chakra to a ten foot circle (just large enough to cover both himself and Felix) using the specialized seal and rune containment ward he'd created that prevented anyone from sensing his chakra unless they crossed over the barrier.

The ward was something that Harry had cobbled together using a combination of seals and runes after learning the hard way just how large of a beacon his massive chakra reserves represented during one of his joint training sessions. The size of the field was usually smaller but the inclusion of his mount meant that the field more than doubled in size. Naruto also had a pendant bearing the same seal and rune combo that he was required to wear when he left the village on missions for pretty much the same reason.

Harry would get his first glimpse of the half finished bridge three hours after first setting foot on the ocean and he was mildly impressed with the sheer size of the incomplete structure. He couldn't help but marvel over the engineering feat of creating something so massive with the limited technology that he'd encountered since entering the Elemental Countries. He also had to admire the sheer audacity that Tazuna had in designing, financing, and building such a large structure while thumbing his nose at the local band of thugs that were terrorizing Nami no Kuni.

Harry would be far less impressed with the bridge builder once he learned that the man had lied about the mission details and the exact nature of the threat that the trio of Chuunin would be facing.

The mage scanned the small, fog enshrouded cove where the boatman had delivered Tazuna and his two teammates with jaded green eyes. He'd been twitchy and irritable since he'd spotted land a half an hour earlier and he wasn't certain if it had to do with the attitude of Tazuna's unpleasant friend, if it was the thick fog that had rolled in out of nowhere, or a premonition (such as the one he'd felt in the days leading up to the bandit ambush on his family's journey to Konoha) that was bothering him. There was also a nagging sensation at the back of his skull telling him that he was overlooking something important.

Knowing better than to ignore whatever it was that was unsettling him, Harry dropped the Disillusionment Charm and formed a couple dozen Kage Bunshin the moment he stepped onto dry land and had all of the clones henge into different insects, animals, and birds before he sent them out to explore the island and search for the bandits. He then created another eight shadow clones and had three of them henge into copies of his teammates and the client before he sent them on ahead to scout their trail with a fourth clone. The final four were given a set of ward stones and told to stick close to Tazuna (so they could throw up a quick barrier around the old man the moment it looked they would run into trouble).

"Feeling paranoid much, Takeshi?" Kotetsu inquired as he watched the decoy team disappear into the fog.

"Can it rightly be called paranoia if they really are out to get you, Kotetsu?" Harry countered without missing a beat as he recast Disillusionment Charms over the entire group and tied the spells in such a way that they could still see one another through the spell; a nifty little trick the Japanese magicals had taught him. "Besides, something isn't right. We should have seen at least one bandit patrol or at least seen evidence of their passing by now; especially if there are as many bandits as Tazuna suggested there were."

"Or his buddy could have just dropped us off at a point that is off the beaten path from their usual patrols," Izumo pointed out logically as he joined the other two alongside of the client. The four of them then began following in the wake of the decoy team that Harry had sent on ahead.

"If this was a larger island, I'd agree with you; but this is a small island and the leader of the bandits is bound to be worried about someone sneaking a small army in to arrest them…"

"There is no one to hire an army," Tazuna interjected miserably. "The Daimyou, the Daimyou's family, and anyone who spoke up against the group's leader were murdered two years ago when the thugs first arrived. Scraping up the money to hire a group of shinobi from Konoha was hard enough…"

"Be quiet!" Harry hissed softly as he stopped in his tracks and held up his hand to stop the others. "The decoy has just been attacked but I don't know who it was that attacked them. Only one clone was dispelled from behind…" Harry trailed off as another clone was dispatched and he scowled over the information he'd just learned as he turned to face his teammates. "Kuso, the decoy was attacked by a single missing nin; either of you recognize the name Momochi Zabuza?"

"Chikushou, Zabuza is known as the Kirigakure no Kijin," Izumo cursed as he too scowled. "He's listed in the Bingo book as an A Rank criminal; he's a Jounin level shinobi, a former member of Kiri's ANBU Corps, and one of the Kiri no Shinobigatana Shichinin Shuu."

"Rumors also place him fleeing from Kirigakure five years ago after a failed assassination attempt on the Yondaime Mizukage along with a handful of other including the Oni Kyoudai; the latter of whom are both Chuunin level missing nin," Kotetsu added as he frowned at their client.

"Funny, I don't recall there being any mention made of missing nin being involved in this mission," Harry commented in a deceptively light tone with the slightest undercurrent of irritation as he glanced at their client. "We will be discussing the fact that you withheld important information once we've reached the relative safety of your home, Tazuna-san; since the involvement of known missing nin indicates that this mission was improperly ranked by the mission desk."

"What are we going to do about Zabuza?" Izumo asked as he searched the mist for any signs of their enemy. "He's bound to have realized the group he's been killing is made up of nothing but clones by now and he'll be looking for us."

"He's only killed two of my clones so far and as far as I could tell from the memory of the second Bunshin, he hadn't noticed that first one he killed was a clone; the fog hid the dispersing smoke. Though that will probably change soon, if it hasn't already, since the lack of a body will be quiet telling," Harry absently stated as he looped Felix's reins around a low hanging branch on a nearby tree that was well off the road before he addressed the four clones still with their group. "Set up a fifteen foot perimeter off the side of the road and then make certain that both Felix and our client stay inside the safe zone while we deal with the problem."

The trio of Chuunin stuck around just long enough to insure that their client was secure (Harry asking Minato's spirit to stick around and help keep an eye on the man). Harry then led the other two towards where the decoy group had been ambushed by Zabuza. They arrived to find eight extra clones facing off against four Zabuzas (three of which had to be solid clones) while the decoy clone henged to look like Izumo protected the Tazuna look-a-like. Harry immediately realized that the eight extra clones had either been created by one of the remaining two decoys or they were part of the group he'd sent out to explore the island.

"We're going to have to take him alive," Harry grimly pointed out in a low voice that wouldn't carry far. "We'll need whatever information we can pull from him in regards to what is going on here because I don't trust our client to be truthful at this point. I can take him down and keep him down but the method I plan to use won't work on clones and if the real one sees me attempting to take down a clone, he will know to dodge."

"Izumo can trap them all with his Mizuame Nabara and then we can help you dispel the clones the old fashioned way," Kotetsu suggested as he pulled the two giant kunai from his back and passed one to Izumo.

"He's from Kiri; he's bound to have a far better grasp of Suimen Hokou no Waza than I do which means that he will be able to easily counter the syrup," Harry countered with a shake of his head. "I'll make another four clones and have them each target one of the enemies from behind with a low powered Rairyuudan in order to dispel the clones and then the two of you can harry the original and keep his attention on the two of you so that I can sneak up behind him and drop him."

Both older Chuunin nodded and Harry quickly created the required clones and assigned each of them a target before he disillusioned them in order to make them harder to notice. Once they were sent after their targets, Izumo and Kotetsu split up and circled around the area using the trees until they were on opposite side of the fight from Harry and from each other so that when they attacked, Zabuza's back would be to Harry; giving him a clear shot at the other man. Harry then watched the plan unfold as his four clones attacked at the same exact moment just five minutes after they'd split up.

Two of Zabuza's clones exploded in a shower of water as the raging dragons of lightning slammed into them from behind while Zabuza and his remaining clone managed to escape from the attacks by the skin of their teeth. Even just taking out the two clones was a big help though as all twelve of Harry's Kage Bunshin on the field (bar the ones henged as Izumo and Tazuna) split into two groups to attack the two remaining Zabuzas. The instant that the third water clone was dispelled, Izumo and Kotetsu rushed out of the trees to attack what they believed was the real Zabuza.

The first indication that the final Zabuza on the field was nothing but a clone came when Kotetsu dispelled it with a swing of his giant kunai. At the same exact moment, Harry was nearly sliced in two from behind as the real Zabuza attacked him directly. Harry avoided the killing blow by a hair's breadth when he'd sensed the man's sword entering his personal space and had thrown himself out of the tree he'd been hiding in before he spun around to face his opponent.

"I had wondered when you'd be brave enough to actually show yourselves," Zabuza taunted as he sent another four Mizu Bunshin to keep Izumo, Kotetsu, and the rest of Harry's clones busy before he immediately attacked Harry with another swing of his sword.

"I wouldn't have bothered but I just had to see for myself if you were really as ugly as you appeared to be in my clone's memory," Harry fired back in response as he ducked under the swung at the very last second and rushed closer to Zabuza as he brought his wand up to bear; casting a silent Full Body Bind Curse on the man.

The spell unfortunately missed its target when Zabuza knocked Harry's aim off by shoving Harry's wand arm up with his free hand. Harry was then forced to apparate away when Zabuza attempted to trap him using his large sword; no need to allow himself to be taken as a hostage or potentially killed so easily. He reappeared not too far away and fired off a chain of offensive spells that were designed to put an opponent down as quickly as possible; any one of the spells guaranteed to disable a person no matter where the spell connected. The problem with most of the spells that Harry was using was that they were all visible and therefore easy for Zabuza to dodge or deflect with his sword.

"Do you really think you can take me down with such a pitiful little display of pretty lights?" Zabuza demanded as he batted away yet another stunning spell before he dodged a sizzling blue light.

"Pitiful? I suppose it would seem that way to you but I have no need to pull out any of my more devastating moves when I can keep this up for days without needing a break or breaking a sweat. In fact, all I have to do is tire you out enough for one of my jutsu to land or give my teammates enough time to finish off your clones and help me take you down in a more conventional way," Harry replied without letting up the steady stream of curses, hexes, and jinxes he was firing.

The real reason that Harry hadn't bothered to use his shinobi skills was because he'd had no way of knowing whether or not he could have gone toe to toe with the unfamiliar Jounin. He also refused to take any chances because even the smallest mistake could mean death for both him and his teammates (not to mention their client) and he'd never forgive himself if he left Teddy and Naruto virtually alone (though he knew Arata and Eri would still take care of both boys). Plus there was the fact that his death would unleash half of the Kyuubi and he'd really rather not be responsible for the destruction of an entire island and who knew how many deaths.

Zabuza snarled beneath the bandages that covered the lower half of his face and Harry knew he'd touched a nerve with his declaration. The wizard smirked as Zabuza tried to skewer him with a half dozen kunai in an attempt to disrupt his casting. Harry merely caught the six blades and whipped them back at the man in rapid succession without breaking his stride (or his spell chains); much to the other man's annoyance. Next, Zabuza attempted to put enough distance between them in order to cast another jutsu but Harry hounded him endlessly; preventing him from having enough time to fully form all of the hand seals required for whatever jutsu he wished to use.

Harry then upped the ante as he began apparating randomly around the man in order to make it harder for the man to predict where the next attack would be coming from. The way Harry continued chaining his spells together seamlessly even as he moved from place to place meant that he was raining a steady barrage of attacks on the other man from all sides and eventually the man failed to block or dodge from one of the many colored bolts of light. As the flash of pink washed over the man's left elbow, he grunted and staggered like a drunken sailor; he'd been hit with an Impairment Jinx that warped all five of the senses to the point where a person couldn't function.

The next spell to connect was the Disarming Spell followed quickly by a Summoning Charm to remove the man's weapons. He was just about to cast the Stunning Spell when a rain of senbon flashed through the air and Harry cast a wide area Banishing Charm to prevent any of them from striking their target. He then quickly dropped Zabuza with a Stunning Spell (causing the clones the man had made earlier to collapse into puddles of water). Kotetsu and Izumo made their way to his side while Harry's Kage Bunshin began gathering up Zabuza's many scattered weapons that had been flung away alongside of the senbon. A second rain of senbon was sent their way and Harry again banished the attack.

"Show yourself or I will attack you instead," Harry ordered loudly in hopes of drawing out their unseen attacker while he, Izumo, and Kotetsu scanned the surrounding trees for any sign of the individual.

"Thank you for taking care of Zabuza; now please step away from the body so that I may collect him," a masked shinobi ordered in return as he appeared in the tree closest to where Harry was standing over Zabuza.

"Ah, no, I don't think so; I'm not finished with my prisoner yet," Harry countered without any hesitation.

Kotetsu and Izumo both became more than a little nervous as Izumo tugged on his sleeve and hissed, "Takeshi, that's one of Kiri's Hunter Nins; he won't take too kindly to you stepping between him and his target."

"No, I'm not buying it," Harry stated as he stared up at the masked shinobi who couldn't be more than a few years older than Naruto. "What kind of Hunter Nin would stupidly attack the group that took down his target instead of announcing himself first in order to avoid being skewered?"

As soon as the words left his mouth, the masked shinobi cursed and attacked them. The fight wouldn't last more than twenty minutes as Kotetsu and Izumo hounded the masked teen while Harry took two minutes to secure their prisoner behind a set of protective wards before joining in the fight. This time, he had to be far more careful with his casting; least he take out one of his own teammates instead of the fake Hunter Nin. The battle ended when Izumo tripped their opponent by catching him in his Mizuame Nabara for a split second and Harry used the opportunity to wrap the teen in conjured ropes and chains before apparating directly behind the teen to stun him in the back.

"Told you," Harry drawled as he glanced up at his now sheepish teammates.

"How'd you know he wasn't the real deal?" Kotetsu asked curiously as he helped Izumo start removing all signs that a battle had been fought in the area.

"I was told that Hunter Nins always traveled in groups of four or more," Harry replied as he recalled Minato's many lessons on the way each of the various Kages ran their villages. "A team of Hunter Nin would have shown themselves to us either before we engaged their target so that we could all work together and not get in each other's way or right after we had subdued the target; they would not have wanted there to be any chances of their target escaping in the confusion if our team confronted their team. They also would not have attacked during the middle of the fight when we would see their attack as interference or an attempt to help the target escape."

Nothing more was said as Harry summoned the masked shinobi's weapons and sealed them into a scroll alongside of Zabuza's weapons (including the Kubikiri Bouchou). He then ordered two of his clones to take the place of the two that had been dispelled earlier before he sent the decoy team on their way in the event there was another ambush waiting for them somewhere down the road. The remaining clones then henged back into animals, birds, and insects before scattering back into the forest to continue their original objective.

The last two things that Harry did before trio headed back to where they'd left Tazuna, was to secure both prisoners in a conjured wheelbarrow with a tarp over top of them and create an additional clone to push the wheelbarrow.

No sense in letter their employer and any other co-conspirators know they'd been captured.

* * *

**Translations:** Japanese to English

Chikushou – damn  
Kirigakure no Kijin – Demon of the Mist  
Kiri no Shinobigatana Shichinin Shuu – Seven Swordsmen of the Mist  
Konnichiwa – hello or good afternoon  
Kubikiri Bouchou – Decapitating Carving Knife or Executioner's Blade  
Kuso – swear word  
Nami no Kuni – Wave Country  
Oni Kyoudai – Demon Brothers  
Sumimasen – I'm sorry; slightly more formal than using gomen nasai

**Techniques/Skills:**

Mizu Bunshin – water clones  
Mizuame Nabara – Starch Syrup Capture Field  
Rairyuudan no Jutsu – Lightning Dragon Projectile Technique (non-canon – created by author)  
Suimen Hokou no Waza – Water walking

**Notes:**

Travel distance between Konoha and Nami – 115 miles (less than 2 day's journey for shinobi at 65 miles per day)

Haku's seemly easy/quick capture – there are a couple of reasons for this; first, three Chuunin are far more skilled than a pair of barely trained (if talented) Genin. Second, Haku had been caught off guard by Harry seeing through his disguise as a Hunter Nin. And third, Haku's attention was split between defending himself and collecting Zabuza so that he could escape with the Jounin. The same applies to Zabuza's capture as well; though Harry's approach to that fight also played a factor in his capture since Harry didn't play a round of my reputation is bigger than yours with Zabuza like Kakashi did in Canon. He also didn't have to worry about protecting a trio of children and a vulnerable client like Kakashi did.

* * *

**AN:** _I will leave those unhappy with this chapter with these words; Canon? Who needs Canon? This isn't a castle, it's not a pirate ship, and it is most assuredly not an army; there is no need for any stinking canons here. _

_For those concerned that I am having Harry push Naruto out of the spotlight, keep in mind that this arc and this story are no where near finished and that Naruto will have plenty of other moments to shine. And technically, it's not Naruto's spot light that Harry has stolen from this arc anyway, it was Haku's; since Harry has already taught Naruto the concept that it is protecting one's precious people that makes one strong. Or, in Harry's case, fighting for one's friends and family is what makes a person strong.  
_

_In any case, the next chapter picks up roughly from where this one left off and will be posted tomorrow. And, chapter 27 was updated with a few minor spelling and grammar corrections but there's no need to go back and re-read it since I didn't make any plot changes. ~ Jenn_


	29. Confessions and Legends

**Disclaimer:** _All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies and all Naruto characters are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites._

**Warnings:** _AU for parts of both worlds (i.e. kiss canon goodbye), mild character bashing, mild to moderate violence (there are shinobi involved after all), and a few others that will be announced as they crop up. _

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

**Chapter 29: Confessions and Legends**

_Thursday, August 07, 2003, Afternoon  
Tazuna's Home, Nami no Kuni_

The rest of the journey to the bridge builder's house passed by unimpeded with the decoy arriving safe and sound at the clearing where Tazuna's house had been built before one of the four dispersed itself to let Harry know they had arrived. The remaining three clones stuck around to inform the occupants of the house (a young woman and her son) that they would be arriving soon and to make certain the house wasn't attacked before the group arrived.

By the time the group reached the house, Harry was in a fine temper; his thoughts dark as it occurred to him that if he hadn't arrived first the afternoon he picked up the mission for his team, then it could have been Naruto's team that had been caught up in the client's lie; Kakashi had warned him the morning prior to grabbing the mission that he'd be taking the three kids on another C Rank mission after their morning training session the next day.

"Kotetsu; will you take Izumo and one of my clones with you to interrogate our client while I ward the clearing against hostiles and set up accommodations for our prisoners?"

"Now see here… you can't go ordering me about in my own home," Tazuna protested weakly.

"Urusai, Tazuna-san; you've caused us enough problems by lying about the original mission," Harry snapped angrily as he glared at the man. "The thing that pisses me off the most though is how close my itoko's team came to being assigned this mission in our stead. And nothing infuriates me more than having my family placed in harms way."

"The best thing you can do at this point, Tazuna-san, is come clean with the complete truth," Izumo pointed out as he gently grabbed hold of Tazuna's elbow and began steering the man towards the front door of his house. "Lying again at this point or withholding even the smallest scrap of information will only make matters worse in the long run."

Harry watched as the man deflated and allowed Izumo to shuffle him off into the house. Kotetsu waited until they were out of sight before he asked, "Are you certain you don't want help securing the area and the prisoners? For that matter, don't you personally want to question the client?"

"I can make as many clones as I need to help me deal with setting up the wards to protect the house and clearing as well as help me deal the unconscious prisoners," Harry pointed out as he began unloading the pack Felix was carrying. "And as much as I'd love to question Tazuna, it is far better that I am not involved least I skin the man alive; I'm far too pissed with him to think rationally around the man right now. Besides, having one of my clones listening in will let me hear the entire thing anyway."

"Alright, I'll dispel your clone the moment we're done," Kotetsu replied before he left Harry to his work and randomly snagged one of Harry's clones to drag along to deal with the client.

Harry sighed and shook his head before he created another thirty clones; twenty of which he set to drawing and hanging the temporary tags he'd need to ward the entire clearing. He selected another four clones to set up the temporary ward stones around the house to add a second layer of protection. The rest of the clones were then left to stand guard over the two prisoners while he used the Elder Wand to build a small prison to house them in out of transfigured pebbles; all the while wishing that Yamato had been with them on this mission.

And it wasn't just Yamato's Mokuton abilities that Harry was missing; the man was a damned good shinobi and a great captain (when he wasn't being driven up a wall by pranks).

Once he finished with the prison, Harry checked on the progress of the clones warding the clearing before he sent the clones that had set up the ward stones into the prison to draw chakra suppression seals in each of the eight holding cells he'd created inside of the small prison (the extra cells intended for any additional prisoners they picked up). They would also line the walls and the corridor in the center of the horseshoe of cells with silencing wards to prevent the prisoners from talking with one another or hearing anything that was said outside of their cells.

While they were doing that, Harry created portable suppression seals that would be placed directly on each prisoner along with a hybrid rune and seal tag that would paralyze the prisoners from the neck down without affecting their internal organs. Another hybrid tag would vanish their body waste so that the prisoners would not have to sit in their own filth as well as save the three Chuunin from the need to clean up after their captives; something that would also decrease any chances of the prisoners escaping during such a clean up.

The sun had nearly finished setting by the time both prisoners were securely ensconced in their private cells. Both man and teen were secured to an inclined metal bed that was attached to the back wall of their cell with the tags sealing their movements and chakra safely attached to the middle of their backs beneath their clothes where they wouldn't be easily noticed or removed. The positioning of their beds was such that both prisoners could be fed without needing to release them. It would also allow Harry to use magic to interrogate the pair; by using Legilimency, drawing their memories directly from their minds, or dosing them with Veritaserum.

That was also about the same time that Kotetsu and Izumo finished questioning Tazuna in regards to the information that the client had withheld about the mission. The moment the memories of that discussion hit Harry, he began cussing up a storm as he immediately understood the exact nature of the situation they'd stumbled upon in Nami no Kuni. It took him a few minutes to calm down enough to figure out just what information he would need to pull from their two prisoners and decide which would be the quickest and easiest way to get that information.

Twenty minutes later, Harry was manipulating the unconscious Zabuza's subconscious mind with key words and the help of a few potions (a Calming Draught, a Memory Enhancer, and Veritaserum to name a few) while he used his wand to siphon off copies of all the memories associated with each key word. Each collection of silvery memories was then temporarily stored in hurriedly labeled vials until he could set aside enough time for him to separate them into individual vials for permanent storage. Once he finished gathering Zabuza's memories (a process that took close to two hours), Harry repeated the process with the unnamed teen.

By the time he finished gathering the teen's memories, Harry was feeling rather exhausted (he'd expended a considerable amount of magic over the course of the day between the earlier fights, setting up the prison and the wards, and drawing out the memories of two unconscious people). An Invigoration Draught washed away his exhaustion and would allow him to stay awake long enough to meet with his teammates to discuss their mission and write a letter to the Hokage.

Harry had barely stepped outside of the makeshift prison when he found himself face to face with his teammates; the two older men had brought him supper when he didn't show up at the meal earlier. Harry accepted the plate of food as he led the pair further away from the house towards a fallen tree where they could hold their discussion in privacy. As he ate, Harry listened to his teammates dissect everything they'd learned from Tazuna. After he finished his food and once the pair were finished talking, Harry in turn informed the pair that he intended to interrogate the two prisoners once they woke up in order to gather what information he could; the wizard not yet willing to let the shinobi know about his ability to draw out memories.

"Are you thinking about dropping the mission and returning to Konoha?" Kotetsu inquired the moment the wizard fell silent.

"According to the rule book, we're supposed to but you and I both know that if we do, then it will reflect badly on both our team and on Konoha; especially if the client gets killed the moment we leave," Harry replied wearily as he dug out a blank scroll to start writing the letter to the Hokage. "If we had been ambushed closer to Konoha, we could have taken the matter back to the Hokage but it's a little too late now. However, because we know exactly what is happening now, we can send a message back to the Hokage outlining the situation and see how he wants to handle the matter from his end while we do what we were hired to do."

"True; we just wanted to make certain that you knew that since you are technically the team captain for the duration of the mission," Izumo stated as he eyed Harry a moment. "Chances are the Hokage suspected something was off about the mission in the first place but it's hard to say just how much he might have known about the situation through Konoha's spy network."

"What plans have you come up with for protecting Tazuna, Tazuna's family, Tazuna's workers, and the bridge?" Kotetsu asked after giving Harry a few minutes to digest the information that the Hokage might already be aware of the situation.

"Tazuna and his family will be secure within their home now that I've set up a perimeter barrier and two of us can escort Tazuna to and from the bridge each morning while one of us remains to provide an escort for the man's daughter and grandson if they need to run any errands. The bridge can be warded the same as Tazuna's house; which would make protecting the workers relatively easy while they are working on the bridge. Protecting them while they are traveling or when they are at home is going to be a bit more difficult though and warding all of their homes isn't practical."

"I could create enough clones to provide each of the workers with an escort to and from the bridge but that won't save them from another shinobi." Harry paused for a moment at that point before he continued, "The best way to protect everyone though, would be to hunt down and capture Gato before dealing with his hired thugs and any other missing nin he has on hand. I just don't know how big of a problem taking control of Gato Corporation would cause for Konoha."

"_If you take him down quietly, then you could potentially make it look like Gato willingly retired and handed the reins of the company over to your client; who in turn could turn the company over to Konoha in repayment for lying about the mission details,_" Minato's spirit suggested as he made his presence visible for the first time since they left Konoha.

"That would depend on whether or not Gato Corporation is a legitimate business or if the business is just a front for illegal activities."

"The Hokage should have information on Gato Corporation and Gato Senshu; if he doesn't, then Jiraiya undoubtedly will have dirt on both the man and his company due to how much time the Sennin spends outside of the village," Izumo interjected as he took the ghost's sudden appearance in stride (both older Chuunin long used to the spirit popping up unexpectedly whenever they were around Harry).

"We could easily kidnap the man now, replace him with a clone, have the clone order his men to let Tazuna finish his bridge, and interrogate the man while we wait for the Hokage's reply and information about Gato from Jiraiya," Harry suggested as he considered the problem while he finished up the letter he'd written and locked the scroll with a privacy seal. "That would reduce the chances of an all out attack while the bridge is still under construction."

"Gato's abrupt change of heart would be questioned by a number of people though," Kotetsu stated with a slight frown.

"Not if we have the clone imply that he wishes to take over the bridge in order to charge those who use it an outrageous toll fee. Actually, why wasn't Gato planning to do that all along? Why destroy the bridge completely when he could make far more money by allowing Tazuna to build the damn thing before he took control of it? Unless there is something else the man is afraid will happen if the bridge is built?"

"_Nami no Kuni is an archipelago of islands that formed over top of an extinct volcano roughly two hundred years ago. The island was originally used as a base of operations for a notorious band of pirates and smugglers led by a rogue shinobi from Kirigakure no Sato until Uzushiogakure no Sato raided the base and killed their leader eighty-five years ago,_" Minato explained as he shifted slightly closer to Harry.

"_There have long been rumors that the plunder the shinobi turned pirate hoarded prior to his death remains hidden below the islands in the network of volcanic tunnels that riddle the island. Whether or not there is any truth to the rumors is debatable but that hasn't stopped would be adventurers and thieves from searching for the tunnel entrances in hopes of claiming the 'treasure'._"

"What happened to the rest of the pirates?" Harry inquired curiously over the small anecdote. "Were all of them killed in the raid or did some of them escape?"

"_According to the story that Kushina told me, very few of the pirates were actually killed during the raid aside from the leader and his closest associates. The survivors of the raid then swore to give up their thieving ways in exchange for clemency from Uzushio and were therefore allowed to remain on the island. The small island was considered part of Uzu no Kuni from that point forward until Uzu was razed to the ground towards the end of the Second Great Shinobi War._"

"_The former pirate stronghold escaped mostly unscathed and accepted a small number of refugees from the former island nation of Uzu no Kuni. Nami no Kuni was established as an independent nation a year after the end of the war under the rule of a Daimyou whose origins were unknown. The two most prominent rumors at the time were that the first Daimyou was the son of the pirate leader or that he was the only surviving grandson of Uzu no Kuni's Daimyou._"

"_The country had remained fairly isolated for the duration of the Third Great Shinobi War but began building a shipping empire to support itself right around the same time as the war ended. Konoha cultivated close ties with the island nation almost from the moment it was birthed in order to prevent Kiri from getting a foothold so close to the main continent._"

"Fascinating," Harry murmured as he allowed his imagination to run wild with the tale for a moment before he snapped his attention back to the matter at hand. "I wonder… what are the chances that Gato is seeking the fabled treasure of the long dead pirate king? It would certainly explain why he wouldn't want a bridge to connect the island to the mainland – since a bridge would allow for far more glory hounds and treasure hunters to reach the island whereas right now he controls the waters surrounding the island and therefore controls just who sets foot on the island."

"Or, he's using the old tunnels to hold any illegal goods he's been smuggling or selling and is worried about treasure hunters stumbling upon his ill-gotten gains and thinking they found the treasure," Izumo countered logically.

"And a far more likely scenario," Kotetsu agreed as he nodded his head. "Not to mention the fact that the bridge would allow those people discontent with his rule to flee the island in droves."

"Maybe… but it's definitely far more boring then imagining that Gato is some mentally brain dead idiot bound and determined to dig up an entire island just to find a bunch of rotting silks and tarnished copper coins," Harry snorted as he climbed to his feet and stretched until his back popped several times.

"Chikushou, why didn't I think of that?" Kotetsu complained theatrically as he palmed his face in mock despair.

"Anyway, I'm going to spam the area with clones before I camp out on the roof of the makeshift prison for the night. I'll leave the two of you to spend the night in the house to watch over the family and make certain they don't go sneaking off in the dead of night."

"We'll see you in the morning, Takeshi," Izumo called after him as the wizard walked away.

Harry absently waved at the pair in response without looking back before he formed another hundred clones that were ordered to stand watch and Shunshined directly to the roof of the prison. He then summoned his pack from where it was sitting beside the pack saddle and other items Felix had been carrying and laid out his sleeping bag. After that, he sent a clone to check on Felix and summoned one of his elves to deliver the message he'd written to the Hokage.

The last thing he did before he crawled inside of his sleeping bag was to put away the glass disks he'd been using to work on his chakra control (a training exercise he'd never stopped despite how far along his control had come). Once he was lying down, Harry fell asleep almost before his head could touch his pillow.

He was woken by one of his many clones shortly after dawn; the prisoners were both awake. Harry took the time to change into a clean set of clothes and grab a couple bottles of water and some fruit from his pack before he dropped down to the ground to visit Zabuza and the as yet unnamed teen. He made his way to the teen's cell first and slipped inside after making certain the four clones he'd left inside to watch over the prisoners were all present and accounted for (they were). Harry then made his way to the side of the bed and sat in the chair provided so that the paralyzed teen could see him.

"What have you done to me? Where is Zabuza-sama?" the rather effeminate teen demanded in a raspy voice the moment his brown eyes landed on Harry.

"Would you like a drink?" Harry asked instead of acknowledging the boy's questions.

"Where have you taken me? What do you want with me? Where is Zabuza-sama?"

"I'll assume that you aren't thirsty then, shall I? Are you hungry?"

"What have you done to Zabuza-sama?"

Harry sighed and set the bottle of water on the table beside the chair along with a couple pieces of fruit before he climbed back to his feet and stated, "The guards will check on you again in a few hours. If you grow thirsty, you've only to let the guards know when they open the door and they will give you a drink. They will also feed you if you grow hungry."

"Chikushou; why won't you answer my questions!?"

The wizard ignored the question and exited the cell. As much as it pained him to ignore the kid, he knew he couldn't treat him like a harmless civilian; the teen had tried his best to kill him and his teammates. He wouldn't mistreat the teen (he still had some morals after all) but he also wasn't going to play nice and try to make friends with the boy. Once the kid stopped making demands and once he'd had a chance to view the memories he'd pulled from the teen, he would ask the kid a few questions to see if he'd cooperate. The rest of the time, all he intended to do was insure that the kid didn't escape and that he was fed and watered regularly for the duration of the mission.

Harry checked on his clones briefly as he moved further into the prison to where Zabuza's cell sat at the very back of the small building. He then slipped inside of the cell to find Zabuza ranting and raving under his breath; the man was apparently far less composed than his accomplice and more than a little pissed about waking up in a prison cell in his current condition.

"… and when I get my hands on that green-eyed bastard, I'm going to rip his intestines out through his nose and shove them down his throat until he chokes on his own guts."

"Interesting threat," Harry drawled around a dark chuckle as he walked up to sit in the chair beside Zabuza.

"I'm going to enjoy hearing your screams as I kill you as slowly and as painfully as possible," Zabuza snarled as he rolled his eyes in Harry's direction. "I don't know who the hell you think you are but you won't keep me here for long and once I am free, you are a dead man!"

"Help… someone save me… my life has been threatened… I'm so terrified now," Harry deadpanned in a flat voice as he crossed his legs and slouched back in the chair; the wizard the perfect picture of boredom.

"Why you little runt… I'm going to gut you like a fish…"

Harry sighed and withdrew his wand in order to pour several gallons of near freezing water over the man in order to get him to shut up. Once the man was silent, Harry stopped the waterworks as he asked, "Did you get enough water or are you still thirsty, Momochi-san?"

"Fuck you."

"Sorry, I'm not interested in ugly and stupid."

"When I get my hands on you…"

Another deluge of icy water hit Zabuza in the face until he shut his mouth before he stated, "If all you intend to do is threaten and insult me, then I will leave you to your confinement."

"If you think that playing mind games with me is going to get me to spill my guts…"

"I don't need to make you spill your guts, Momochi-san; I've already pulled everything I need to know directly from your mind while you were unconscious. I simply came to visit you to make certain that you were fed and watered since you missed both lunch and supper yesterday. You're little accomplice provided quite a bit of information for me as well."

"You lie! Haku would never betray me!" Zabuza spat as he attempted to kill Harry with his eyes.

"Do I?" Harry inquired as he casually dried Zabuza and the floor of the excess water before he set the remaining water bottle and the rest of the fruit on the table beside the chair. "Personally, I think you should have requested twice the amount of money from Gato and demanded half of it up front before you agreed to work for him; we both know the man was going to try and screw you over once the job was finished anyway. Well, I don't suppose that it really matters now anyway since you're my prisoner and there is no chance of you finishing the job."

Zabuza's curses and threats followed Harry from the cell until the moment he stepped through the door. He sighed softly as he glared back at the closed cell door before he turned to address the clones standing guard in English, "_Keep an eye on both prisoners and see if you can get them to eat. If they haven't eaten anything by supper time, let me know and I will give them a nutritional potion to encourage them to eat the food they are offered. Don't answer their questions, don't ask them any questions besides whether or not they are hungry or thirsty, and don't give them any information or assurances no matter what._"

The clones all saluted Harry in unison as he turned and left the building. Once back outside, he took a few minutes to stretch and run through his usual morning calisthenics. After that, he headed back up to the roof to collect his things and pull out a set of glass disks to slip into place for his chakra control exercise before he went to check on Felix to make certain that the horse had been properly cared for during the night. He then spent another half an hour sorting through the handful of clone memories he'd received during the night; most of them regarding the layout of the island, the deplorable state of the few villages that were on the island, and potential leads on locations for the bandit hideouts.

Kotetsu exited the house about that time to see if he was up and to let him know that Tsunami (Tazuna's daughter) had made breakfast. Harry thanked him and headed inside to officially meet the last two members of Tazuna's family since he'd not had the chance the day before (aside from when his clone was introduced). Tsunami was only about five or six years older than Harry and she was a pretty woman despite the dark smudges beneath her eyes, the worry lines that had formed on her brow, and the load of long held fears that weighed down her shoulders.

She was also a decent cook when one considers the limited supplies she had on hand. Well, her supplies had been limited until Harry and his team arrived as they'd brought extra supplies with them that they had willingly shared with the family. Harry had suspected that things would be bad based upon what Tazuna had said about the bandits the first time he'd spoken to the man but he hadn't really been prepared for the full out poverty that the entire island was experiencing if what he'd seen so far was any indication.

As he ate breakfast, Harry drew the young woman into a conversation regarding the state of the island; drawing more information about the inhabitants that lived on the island (not counting Gato's hired thugs), the types of jobs the people performed to support themselves (when they were not being repressed), and what resources were still available for the people (barely any because of the bandits). Once he'd finished eating, Harry thanked Tsunami for the food before he sought out his teammates so they could plan out their day while they waited for Tazuna to get up and get moving.

After a short debate, Izumo was selected to stay at the house and watch over Tazuna's family and their prisoners with the help of Harry's clones for the morning while Kotetsu and Harry went with Tazuna to the bridge. The reason Harry was one of those going to the bridge was so that the wizard could set up the protective wards that would prevent anyone from attacking the bridge directly.

His clones were exceedingly useful in getting the wards set up along the finished portion of the bridge quickly. A few well placed rocks that had been carved with runes and seals saw the empty stretch of water between the current end of the bridge and the projected end of the bridge where it would connect to Hi no Kuni being protected as well. While the clones worked, Harry observed the workers that showed up but left Kotetsu to chat up a few of them to get a feel for what they were thinking as a group; the older Chuunin was far more personable than Harry.

Both shinobi made it a point to never leave Tazuna alone completely with any of the workers (in case one was a shinobi or thug in disguise or a civilian that had been paid off by Gato to kill the bridge builder and who had slipped onto the bridge before the wards had gone up).

By the time they returned to the house for lunch, three workers had quit (the men breaking under the stress) and two thugs had attempted to sneak onto the bridge. Watching the two thugs bounce off of the wards two or three times before they realized something was keeping them off the bridge had been highly amusing for those that had witnessed the spectacle. Harry and Kotetsu had quickly apprehended the thugs after they stopped entertaining the duo (and more than a few of the workers). After they had been incapacitated, Harry created a dozen clones to haul the new prisoners back to their temporary prison.

Once lunch was over, Izumo left with Kotetsu to escort Tazuna back to the bridge accompanied by two dozen Kage Bunshin disguised as pebbles for back up (in case they were visited by more thugs or needed to get a hold of Harry quickly). Harry then spent an hour searching the new prisoner's minds before he created a pair of clones to take their place; both to prevent word of their capture from spreading and to gather more information. The rest of his afternoon was then spent viewing and sorting Zabuza's memories while his clones kept watch over the house and helped Tsunami with a few chores (such as replacing the missing or broken tiles from the roof and catching fish for supper).

Tazuna's angst filled grandson made a few appearances, though the kid never once spoke to him; the boy obviously uncomfortable around the three shinobi but Harry most especially for some reason.

Supper brought with it a response from the Hokage regarding the mission.

_Takeshi,_

_The situation in Nami no Kuni is far graver than rumors led me to believe and I appreciate  
the prerogative you have shown in getting what information you have discovered to date to  
my attention as quickly as you did. _

_After careful review of the facts you provided, the parameters of your original mission have  
been altered to reflect the current situation._

_1) Investigate the local branch of Gato Corporation and determine the end goal that Gato  
Senshu hopes to achieve in regards to Nami no Kuni. This includes confirming that Gato  
was in any way responsible for the deaths of the Daimyou and the Daimyou's family._

_2) Once you've finished investigating Gato Corporation, you are to take Gato Senshu into  
custody and confiscate any assets or merchandise that the company is holding in Nami no  
Kuni. Please be certain to collect any and all documents during the confiscation process;  
especially those that implicate Gato and Gato Corporation participating in any illegal  
activities._

_3) A detailed status report on the current living conditions of the citizens of Nami no Kuni  
is imperative so that Konoha can send the necessary supplies and staff to relieve their  
suffering once the situation with Gato's hired mercenaries has been resolved. _

_4) Finally, you are to follow through with your original mission objective._

_As for the information that you requested on the history of Gato Corporation and any rumors  
about Gato Senshu's life and habits, I have sent an urgent message to Jiraiya requesting that  
he send you that information through the same method that allowed me to send this reply to  
you. _

_Please keep me informed of any new information that comes to light during the course of your  
mission._

_Sarutobi Hiruzen  
Sandaime Hokage of Konohagakure_

Harry stared at the letter for a full minute before he wordlessly passed it to Izumo who would in turn pass it to Kotetsu once he was finished reading it. When Kotetsu placed the scroll back in his hand, it quickly disappeared into one of the many hidden (and magically protected) pockets of his cloak where it would not get lost or stolen. The meal was tense as the three civilians nervously watched the three shinobi once it became apparent that they weren't going to share any of the information that had been in the scroll that had appeared out of nowhere just as the meal was being served.

House elf service was both efficient and convenient and those crafty little buggers sure knew how to hide themselves in plain sight.

Once the meal was over and Inari (Tazuna's grandson) had disappeared to escape the tense atmosphere (with an unseen clone in tow to watch over him), Harry placed his elbows on the table, threaded his fingers together, and propped his chin on his thumbs as he addressed the father and daughter duo, "As you might have surmised, the scroll that I received earlier was a letter from the Hokage in response to the report that I sent to the Sandaime last night."

"Will… will the three of you be leaving now then?" Tazuna asked in a voice that only wavered once.

"No; but as you can imagine there have been changes made to our original mission and your cooperation will be paramount in our efforts to fulfill the original mission request that you filed on top of our new tasks that the Hokage has assigned to our team."

"We will help you in any way that we can," Tazuna hurriedly stated in sheer relief as he flicked his gaze between the three shinobi while his daughter seemed to wilt in on herself now that she was no longer so tense with fear.

"I'm glad to hear that, Tazuna-san," Harry replied with an almost smile that was far friendlier than the blank stares he usually gave the man. "I would appreciate it if you would start by telling us the names of any witnesses that were present when the Daimyou's family was murdered, a list of names of those people that were executed by Gato or his thugs and those people who have disappeared since Gato arrived, and a rough census of the citizens that are still in Nami no Kuni – we'll need a total number of people not involved with Gato broken down into age groups and a list of illnesses and injuries that any of your fellow citizens are suffering from, if known."

Izumo and Kotetsu were soon writing down the information that Tsunami and Tazuna were providing including the names of those individuals that would have more information so they could to gather as much information as they could about Gato, Gato Corporation, Gato's hired thugs, and the current state of each village on the island.

* * *

**Translations:** Japanese to English

Chikushou – damn  
Urusai – be quiet/shut up (rude)

**Notes:**

Senshu – usurper or tyrant (I thought it an appropriate first name for Gato though I also considered boukun which also means tyrant as well as despot)

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**AN:** _The chapter's still a little choppy in places but overall I was happy with the way it came out. I had quite a bit of fun writing the scene w/ Zabuza and I tried to make Nami's history a bit more colorful than what little we know of it from canon. Oh, and in case it wasn't clear in the story, the first time Harry got information regarding the inhabitants wasn't as detailed information wise as the information he was asking for at the end of the chapter - so, no, he wasn't just gathering the same info twice.  
_

_Anyway, the next chapter should be up tomorrow and will have a very small time skip in it but otherwise pick up from where this one left off. ~ Jenn_


	30. Kidnapping, Thievery, and Impersonation

**Disclaimer:** _All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies and all Naruto characters are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites._

**Warnings:** _AU for parts of both worlds (i.e. kiss canon goodbye), mild character bashing, mild to moderate violence (there are shinobi involved after all), and a few others that will be announced as they crop up. _

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

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**Chapter 30: Kidnapping, Thievery, and Impersonation**

_Monday, August 11, 2003, Morning  
Zabuza's Hideout, Nami no Kuni_

Harry tiredly took a sip of the Polyjuice Potion he'd had one of his elves fetch from beyond the barrier that separated the Hidden Countries from the Outer Countries (the potion currently laced with a few hairs from Zabuza) as his holly wand silently alerted him to let him know that fifty minutes had already passed. He'd gone the magical route for his disguise to limit the chances of his disguise being disrupted because he was too tired due to how little sleep he'd gotten since they had arrived in Nami no Kuni. That was on top of all the magic that he'd expended and the work he'd needed to do for the mission.

And the last thing he needed was for his disguise to fall when he was surrounded by enemies.

Beside him, one of his clones was currently wearing Haku's mask (the clone henged since Polyjuice didn't work on the clones – they'd tried – and because physically disguising a clone was pointless). Harry made an effort not to gag over the horrid taste of the potion (Essence of Momochi Zabuza had turned out to be far more disgusting than Essence of Gregory Goyle; who knew?). Tucking away the vial of vile potion, Harry continued riffling through Zabuza's things to collect anything of value (whether it was monetary, intellectual, or political).

There was a surprising amount of blackmail material lying about the room (all of sealed into storage scrolls, of course) and Harry didn't hesitate to collect every last bit of it. He was well aware that some of the scrolls were fakes and were likely to blow up in his face if he opened them but he knew exactly which ones those were thanks to Zabuza's memories. He was just sorting through the stash of medical supplies that Haku had made and collected when Gato and a pair of bodyguards burst into the room unannounced.

"You have a lot of nerve showing your face around here after failing to kill the bridge builder," Gato declared with a sneer as he took in the chaotic state of the room.

"Stuff it, Gato; there was no mention of us having to face a team of shinobi in our contract," Harry retorted as he reached up to place one hand on the Wakizashi blade that was currently masquerading as Zabuza's sword thanks to a tricky bit of transfiguration. "I successfully dealt with the Jounin that arrived with the protection detail and once I've recovered from that fight, I'll be able to finish off the three worthless Chuunin that remain alongside of the bridge builder."

"This is the first I've heard about you offing one of the wretched bridge builder's escorts from Konoha," Gato stated as he eyed the disguised wizard warily.

"Maybe you should find better spies," Harry mocked through the bandages that were wrapped around the lower half of his face as part of his disguise as he dropped his hand away from the sword's hilt to give the impression that he no longer considered Gato and his two thugs a threat.

"Humpf," Gato grunted irritably. "See that you do or our deal is off and I'll take your head to the bounty hunters to cash in on the bounty the Mizukage placed on your ugly mug to make up for your failures."

"Don't make threats that we both know you don't have the ability to follow through on, Gato," Harry hissed as he drew his fake copy of Zabuza's sword and waggled the tip of the blade beneath Gato's nose. "Besides, I plan to deal with the problem right **now**."

The moment the word now passed through Harry's lips, the clone disguised as Haku appeared to split in half as the clone created a second clone. Both clones then immediately attacked the two bodyguards that had entered the room and quickly disabled the pair after catching them by surprise. Harry in the mean time had silenced the room to prevent any other thugs from hearing the commotion and dropped Gato using a Stunning Spell with the wand he'd drawn while the man was focused on the sword tip beneath his nose.

Harry worked quickly to secure his three newest prisoners after he created a couple of extra clones to guard the door so he wouldn't be interrupted by another shinobi or thug. Harry then set about grabbing the locations of Gato's main office and current residence, any passwords or security codes he'd need to access both locations, and a list of rooms to search for important documents or valuables straight from Gato's unprotected mind.

Two more mental trips (into the minds of the two bodyguards) netted him just sufficient information for him to send a trio of clones to effectively take the place of Gato and his guards. Portkeys then whisked away the prisoners in order to prevent anyone from noticing them being dragged halfway across the island; Gato was too important of a prisoner to risk losing him to a chance rescue. He also couldn't risk someone figuring out that a clone had taken Gato's place before he could use Gato's spur of the moment capture to his advantage.

Prisoners taken care of (each of them dropped into a different cell where the clones he'd left behind on guard duty would apply the seals to their backs to secure them) and the decoys set to take their place, Harry quickly finished packing up the rest of Zabuza and Haku's things so that he could get the hell out of there.

A final argument and exchange of insults with 'Gato' and his 'bodyguards' took place once he was ready to go (after he dropped the silencing spell) in order to keep in character. The impersonators taking the place of Gato and his bodyguards then stormed out of the room first before Harry and the fake Haku followed in their wake. The other clone remained behind in order to keep watch for the missing Oni Kyoudai and any of the other rogue shinobi that Harry had learned were working with Zabuza.

Harry was more than happy to get away from Zabuza's hideout in one piece; he'd never felt comfortable impersonating other people (even if he'd improved at it since the time he and Ron had snuck into Slytherin's Common Room back in their second year). He was just beginning to believe that his luck was turning around in his favor (since his bad luck had already struck at the start of the mission what with the way the client had lied) when Fate decided that the three day run of good luck had been more than sufficient.

The latest snag…?

Harry ran right into the unaccounted for Oni Kyoudai.

To top it off, his last sip of Polyjuice Potion wore off at the same instant and Harry was left trying to hold up the transfigured copy of Zabuza's pants in order to preserve his modesty while staring at the two suddenly hostile rogue shinobi.

Yeah, he was seriously buggered.

Apparation, Finite Charms, and lots of clones were a bloody life saver as Harry jumped away from the first attack with a loud crack, fixed his clothes, ripped off the bandages covering his mouth, and spammed the forest all at the same time. Once he no longer had to worry about flashing his opponents or tangling up his feet in his pants, Harry unleashed a torrent of spells on the two brothers as the adrenaline coursing through him washed away his tiredness. He also led them on a merry goose chase as far away from Zabuza's base as he could get in the hopes that none of the bandits stationed there would hear the sounds of battle and join in the fight against him.

The insults he kept slinging at the pair insured that their attention was focused solely on him and his clones, as well as kept them in a constant state of anger that prevented them from fighting with their brains, though it also meant that their attacks were rather brutal. It was almost like fighting a two-on-one spar against Kotetsu and Izumo; only with far less friendly banter and far more dire threats and promises of bodily harm. There was also a distinct lack of pranks being thrown his way while he still occasionally managed to fire off a prank spell in order to disable one of his opponents.

Their reaction to Harry animating the razor chain (which was technically a shuriken chain – not that Harry cared what it was called) had been hilarious; the two brothers had freaked out when their chain had come to life and tried to strangle them both at the same time. At the time, the one with the clawed gauntlet on his left arm and the two horns on his hitai-ate was still spewing forth tricolored bubbles each time he tried to speak while the other brother had been covered in paint and painful boils.

By the time Harry managed to incapacitate the duo, his left arm had been dislocated at the shoulder, elbow, and wrist (from when he'd been jerked by his arm in one direction and by his back in the opposite direction), and the pants he wore were soaked in blood (both his blood and that of the two shinobi). A quick self inventory once the fight ended revealed two or three seriously bruised (or potentially cracked) ribs, numerous cuts and bruises, a couple of serious gashes, and a rather severe case of poisoning (from the brothers' gauntlets). That was on top of being exhausted from the intense fight coupled with his lack of sleep and a case of magical exhaustion.

Harry cursed his decision to leave his dragon-hide cloak behind when he'd prepared his disguise; half of the injuries he had picked up could have been prevented if he'd been wearing the cloak.

Securing the prisoners was left to his surviving Kage Bunshin before Harry portkeyed them to the final prison cell that he knew for certain was unoccupied; all the while lamenting on the fact that he hadn't thought to make more cells when he first created the prison. The injured wizard then swallowed a bezoar to counteract the poison before he wearily made his way back to Tazuna's house on foot. He could have traveled via magical means but he had no desire to make his injuries worse by attempting to apparate in such a weakened condition or worse taking a portkey when he knew he wouldn't have a hope in hell of staying on his feet when he landed.

Luckily, his legs and feet had escaped all but a few bruises and shallow cuts; so walking wasn't exactly the effort of agony it could have been. Still, each step he took jarred his injured arm and sent burning spikes of pain through his chest courtesy of his injured ribs. His entire repertoire of verbal curses was exercised fully and expanded upon (in three languages) during the course of the journey. By the time he reached the safety of the wards surrounding the clearing that Tazuna's house sat in, Harry was only moving through sheer stubbornness.

It helped that all of his superficial injuries had already been dealt with by his magic and the Kyuubi's chakra that was flowing through his veins while most of the poison in his system had been neutralized by the bezoar. If only it could have done more for his arm and ribs… and the blood loss and exhaustion. He hadn't thought to bring along any of his healing potions that he usually kept in his dragon hide cloak when he set out to infiltrate Zabuza's base though. He was just lucky that he'd thought to stuff a bezoar in his pocket before he'd left Tazuna's house; a decision prompted by the fact that high number of Kiri's shinobi were well known for their use of poisons.

"What happened to you?" a young voice demanded in an appalled tone.

Harry slowed to a stop and swayed on his feet as he attempted to focus on Tazuna's seldom seen (by Harry at least) grandson as he tried to remember the kid's name. Eventually, he gave up the effort in futility as he fell heavily to his knees when his vision began swimming in and out of focus. As the boy's wide eyed (and more than a little horrified) face filled Harry's limited field of vision, he finally rasped out an answer for the kid, "I was doing the job that your grandfather hired me for, kid."

Harry ignored the kid's screams for his mother as he tumbled face first to the ground when he lost his battle against the pain and exhaustion. He never fell into true unconsciousness though as he stubbornly refused to allow a single one of his many clones scattered about the island to vanish and give away the game when they were currently winning. Instead, Harry fell into a part of his mindscape that he'd never visited before and found himself standing in what looked a lot like the maze of pipes leading into the Chamber of Secrets.

He stared at the strange reddish-orange colored water pooling around his feet for a moment before he turned his attention to the hundreds of iridescent blue threads that were firmly wrapped around his left arm (each one symbolizing an active link to one of his clones). A few simple thoughts directed at those connections saw the wavering ones strengthened until Harry was certain that none of his clones would dispel because of his current physical health. Once that was dealt with, Harry began wandering through the underground network of tunnels in order to occupy himself while he waited for his body to heal enough for him to wake up and sleep.

"_Where exactly are we?_" Minato's voice unexpectedly demanded as the man's spirit shimmered into being beside the Chuunin's inner avatar just a few minutes later.

Harry glanced sideways at his long dead cousin as he replied (in English out of habit due to the setting appearing inside of his mind), "Somewhere inside of my mind, though it's not a place that I've ever visited before; well at least not this version of these tunnels. I've definitely been inside the actual place that this place has been modeled after. I can't really say that I'm pleased to be here again after all of this time; even if it is within my own mind. Why are you here, anyway? You've never appeared in my mindscape before."

"_I don't know why I'm here or even how I got here. One minute I was watching Tazuna's daughter rush to your side in response to her son's frightened screams and the next I found myself standing beside you down here in what looks like a sewer._"

"Oh. How odd; I wonder if I accidentally pulled you in here with me because I sought to avoid falling into true unconsciousness in an effort to keep my clones intact. Anyway, we're not in a sewer; though I suppose that is not too far off from reality as we are standing inside a huge network of pipes. All of these pipes lead to the Chamber of Secrets beneath Hogwarts though, not to a sewage plant… or at least the original pipes did… not really sure where these ones lead to though. Now that I think about it, the pipes all seem to be curving inwards as if they were built in a spiral instead of the honeycombed maze I vaguely remember from my second year."

"_Spiral…?_" Minato parroted nervously as he apprehensively glanced in the direction that Harry had been walking in when he first appeared. "_You know, it might be best if you don't explore any further._"

"What…? Why…?"

"_I don't think we ended up inside of your mind, itoko; I think your fight to remain conscious sucked you into the seal holding the Kyuubi. That would certainly explain why I was dragged along since I am connected to you through the Kyuubi and the seal that contains the demon. And if that is true, then the chances that your arrival here woke the portion of the Kyuubi sealed inside of you are rather high._"

"**It never ceases to amaze me when one of you pitiful and pathetic soft-shelled insects show a modicum of intelligence,**" a sinister voice declared from somewhere within the maze; the being's voice booming and echoing as the water and stone magnified the sound.

"You just had to tempt fate on today, of all days, didn't you, Minato?" Harry growled without any heat as he quickly came to the conclusion that it had been the Kyuubi's sub consciousness speaking and that it was indeed awake.

"_Sorry, I forgot your luck had been inversed for the day after you captured Gato._"

"**Come here little worms. I wish to see my new jailer and the arrogant fool responsible for the nine years of endless torment I suffered through face to face,**" the Kyuubi ordered in its (his…? her…?) booming voice.

"Well, we're here and we'll be here for who knows how long… and I'm just as curious to see the Kyuubi in person and as the saying goes; in for a penny, in for a pound."

"_Just for the records, I really think this is a bad idea; no good will come of associating with that monster._"

"Thousands of ignorant witches and wizards said the same thing about my godson's father just because he was a werewolf," Harry replied in a clipped tone. "And they were wrong; Remus never hurt anyone and he went out of his way to protect people from his unpleasant furry side. There are always two sides to every coin and the world is not painted in black and white; you, of all people, should know that."

"_I do… I am also fully aware that the creature we are walking towards destroyed my family and nearly an entire village in a single night._"

"And weren't you the one that told me that the person responsible for the Kyuubi's rampage was Uchiha Madara? Does that not imply that the Kyuubi had been used as a tool by Madara?"

"_That still doesn't negate the fact that the Kyuubi had continued to rampage even after I'd broken it free of Madara's control._"

"True, but that also doesn't change the fact that the Kyuubi had every right to be angry; it had been used and imprisoned by Konoha since the first time Madara attempted to use the bijuu in his revenge against the village. It's been nursing its anger and frustration for decades and extracted revenge the first chance it got; just like any other being would if it had been put into the same exact position."

"_Fine, have it your way; I'll stop placing all of the blame on the Kyuubi but don't expect me to pick up a stick and start playing fetch with the furball as if he was some oversized pet._"

"Now you're just acting like a petulant two year old throwing a tantrum," Harry dryly pointed out as the two of them finally reached the center of the spiral maze where the inner door of the Chamber of Secrets sat wide open to reveal Harry's inner projection of the Chamber in all its glory. Harry hesitated just outside of the door for a moment before he turned to his cousin and stated, "I think it best that you stay out here, Minato; I don't want to take any chances on you being drawn into the cage with the Kyuubi because of the connection you share with it."

Minato looked horrified by the mere thought and he quickly agreed, "_I have no problems remaining right here while you take a gander at your passenger. I've spent more than enough time trapped in a small space with that demon._"

"**For once I am inclined to agree with the irritating little fleshbag,**" the Kyuubi rumbled as it (he…? she…?) stirred within the confines of its prison when Harry stepped through the entry way and let his eyes take in the Chamber.

There were several differences between the original Chamber of Secrets below Hogwarts and the replicated Chamber of Seals (as Harry began referring to the inner Chamber in order to differentiate between the two chambers) within his mindscape (or was it a sealscape if this was actually inside of the seal?). First of all, the Chamber of Seals was brightly lit while the Chamber of Secrets had been bathed in shadows. Then there was the fact that the Chamber of Secrets' floor was merely damp and moldy while the Chamber of Seals' floor was completely submerged beneath a good three feet of reddish orange water.

The next difference was in décor; the Chamber of Seals sported fox statues and a huge cage at the far end while the Chamber of Secrets had had a snake theme with Slytherin's ugly visage looming over the rotten core from the far end of the room. The network of pipes that opened up off of the Chamber of Secrets were completely absent from the Chamber of the Seals. And of course, there was the fact that the Chamber of Seals didn't really exist set it apart from the Chamber of Secrets which did in fact exist despite rumors to the contrary.

The only thing the hidden rooms had in common was the fact that they both housed deadly creatures that were larger than life. Well, that was only partially true since the basilisk had been dead for over a decade now. The spirit of the similarities still applied, though.

Moving deeper into the enormous chamber, Harry took a good long look at the being trapped behind the cage within the Chamber of Seals. The giant fox had reddish orange fur that made it appear as if its very fur was made up of flames when the creature's muscles shifted beneath its skin. It had long, rabbit-like ears, frightening looking red eyes, and nine tails that continually swung about behind the creature. It also wore a demonic looking grin as it stared at Harry with overwhelming anger, hate, and hunger with just the barest trace of curiosity underneath the hostility.

"**You positively reek of dead, dying, and decaying trees found deep within an ancient forest with the sharp scent of high winds, icy altitudes, and deep waters mixed in,**" the Kyuubi stated as it breathed deeply and Harry wondered if he should be feel insulted. "**You smell of home and it is an unexpectedly pleasant scent to associate with a mere fleshbag. What are you? No mere human should smell of home to one such as I. And how is it that you've hidden all of your memories from me? I should have been able to pull your mind to mine from the moment that I awoke here in this chamber. I can not even sense the whispers of your thoughts in order to learn your pathetic name.**"

"The name I am currently using is Namikaze Takeshi," Harry replied as he fearlessly moved even closer to the cage. "I have heard much about you since I first met my little cousin four years ago but no one seems to know your name; would you tell me your name?"

"**You have not earned the right to hear my name, fleshbag.**"

"Fair enough, fuzzball."

"**You are a brave little worm, to insult me so.**"

"And you are the annoying soul fragment that insulted me first, fox. Several times, I might add. I won't hold that against you this time though since I know exactly how unpleasant it is to be shoved into a cramped prison against your will simply because you exist."

"**You are also rather rude… you've not told me what you are or how you hide yourself from me.**"

"I am a wizard; though, if you wanted to get technical, I suppose you could call me a mage. You could also say that I am a shinobi but sometimes it is still hard to think of myself as such," Harry absently answered as he drifted to a stop right outside of the Kyuubi's cage. "As for how I'm hiding myself…? It's fairly simple; it's magic."

"**There is no such thing as magic,**" the Kyuubi insisted as it huffed in annoyance.

"Wow; you're a real stick in the mud, aren't you, fox? I didn't think anyone outside of my maternal aunt and uncle could be that close-minded in regards to what they couldn't and wouldn't understand. I hate to break it to you, fuzzball, but magic most certainly does exist."

"**Prove it.**"

Harry couldn't help the smirk that plastered itself across his face over the blatant challenge that the Kyuubi had just issued him. Pulling out a mental representation of the Elder Wand, Harry began by transfiguring each of the dozen stone fox statues (which were seated in dignified poses that gave them a regal air) into various amusing positions that made them looking like they were trained circus dogs. He then added insult to injury as he applied clown costumes to their new appearance; complete with make-up, fluorescent colored fur, and silly hats.

He next raised the floor at the center of the Chamber to create a dais (that would place him above the Kyuubi's eye level the moment he stood on it) with a low flight of stairs leading down to the cage. The newly raised section forced the reddish-orange colored waters off to either side where they soon formed a deep moat on either side of the raised section of the floor. After that, he created pipes that siphoned the waters (which he would later learn was actually the fox's chakra that the seal siphoned off from the fox) from the floor up to the ceiling where the waters steadily poured out into twin waterfalls on either side of the Kyuubi's prison.

Another wave of the wand deepened the moat off to either side in order to prevent the water from rising high enough to flood the chamber again; leaving the path from the Chamber's entrance to the Kyuubi's cage clear. A different spell dried the floor and changed it from aged granite into polished marble. The next few flicks of his wand had the walls depicting defining moments of both Harry's and the Kyuubi's life; each scene painted larger than life with full color and amazingly intricate details (all of the scenes pulled directly from Harry's memories, his imagination, and the Kyuubi's memories).

On the left-hand side were the murals and images that depicted his life; an image of James and Lily on their wedding day with Remus and Sirius in the background, a picture of James and Lily holding a newborn Harry, a mural of the frozen tragedy of his parents' deaths coupled with his placement on the doorstep of the Dursleys by Dumbledore, and Harry's eleventh birthday (with Hagrid and Hedwig). After that followed seven more murals that highlighted each of his first six years at Hogwarts and the year he spent hunting the horcruxes.

Then came the Final Battle, another mural of his final year at Hogwarts, the night he rescued Naruto from his aunt and uncle, the moment he became a Jinchuuriki, the day he adopted Teddy as his son, and a mural of the months leading up to the day they'd stepped through the portal. The next mural was of their travels across the Elemental Countries followed by the picture of him and Naruto being given their hitai-ate. The last three pictures depicted a mural of the year and a half Harry spent training under Yamato, the moment Harry was placed on a proper team, and a picture of Harry meeting the Kyuubi for the first time.

The images on the right side of the Chamber started with the image of a shadowy demon with ten tails, a sharp silhouette of the Rikudou Sennin, a mural of all nine bijuu after they'd been separated out from the Juubi, the battle between Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara capturing the moment the Kyuubi was sealed into Uzumaki Mito, and the transfer of the Kyuubi from Mito to Uzumaki Kushina. Next was a poignant mural of the night the Kyuubi was torn from Kushina followed by a detailed picture of the moment where the Kyuubi's soul was split in half.

After that was a mural that represented the nine years of torment that his half of the Kyuubi and Minato suffered together inside of the shinigami's stomach, an image of the night the Kyuubi was sealed inside of Harry from the Kyuubi's point of view, and a picture representing the four years that the Kyuubi had slept peacefully inside of the seal. The very last image was Harry's meeting with the Kyuubi as seen from the Kyuubi's perspective from behind the bars of his prison.

Both sides of the room had several blank panels where future moments of importance would someday be placed.

Harry then turned his wand on the Kyuubi's cage. He started by widening the cage so that the Kyuubi had more than enough room to turn around, he then transformed the no longer flooded floor of the cage into thick loam and moss to make the Kyuubi's bed more comfortable, the walls of the cage were painted to look like a forest, and the ceiling became a weaving of tree branches through which the sky could be glimpsed (the sky set to cycle between day and night). The last thing Harry did to the Kyuubi's cage was to add a doggy door large enough for a medium sized dog to pass through at the far right corner of the gate holding the Kyuubi in place.

"**You expect me to believe that magic exists simply because you manipulated my prison in the same way that my previous hosts manipulated my prisons?**"

"Were any of your previous hosts able to draw your memories out of your mind without your permission? And did either of your previous hosts ever allow you to step freely outside of your cage?" Harry asked in return as he made his way to the dais and created a comfortable pair of arm chairs, a small chess table complete with wizarding chess set, and two side tables to hold refreshments.

"**Do not lie to me; you have not opened the gate to free me!**" the Kyuubi bellowed as he (she…?) ignored the remark regarding his (her…?) memories.

"I do not lie. All you have to do is stick your nose through the small door I made on the right hand side of your cage… though I suppose it would be on your left… and you will be allowed to walk out of your cage and join me here on the dais where we can talk face to face."

"_Are you mad, Harry!?_" Minato demanded from where he was still hovering just outside of the entrance way; the man completely unaware that he'd used Harry's true name in his worry and anger.

"Shut up, Minato," Harry instructed without glancing back at his horrified cousin. "There are restrictions and limitations, of course. For example, you will leave all but a slight trickle of your chakra behind the moment you step through the door; meaning you will have no power outside of your cage. You will also not retain your enormous size since I refuse to allow you the chance to seriously harm me or any other souls that may wind up here inside of the seal. Finally, you can not pass out of the Chamber of Seals… as I've named this room where your cage resides."

"**Then what is the point?**" the Kyuubi grumbled petulantly.

"The ability to freely move about in a much larger space and participate in activities that will help you to relieve the boredom now that you are no longer slumbering."

The Kyuubi harrumphed and turned around so that its back was facing Harry. Harry knew he still had the Kyuubi's attention though because one of the fox's nine tails of destruction was currently prodding the gold flap of the doggy door that Harry had created. Harry politely ignored the Kyuubi's current insecurities as he conjured a tea set and let himself get caught up in the soothing familiarity of brewing a pot of tea. Once the tea was ready, he conjured up a plate of his favorite tea biscuits and some liverwurst sandwiches (the latter strictly for the Kyuubi) and poured out two cups of tea… well one cup of tea for him and a bowl of tea for the Kyuubi.

It was as Harry was stirring the milk and sugar into his cup of earl gray that the Kyuubi finally gave into its curiosity and poked its nose out through the doggy door. Two seconds later, a cocker spaniel sized fox with bright red-orange fur, normal sized fox ears, and nine fluffy tails stood uncertainly at the foot of the cage. Wrapped around the Kyuubi's neck was a white collar with a complex string of blackened runes seared into it and a bright pink silk bow. Each tail sported an identical collar and bow.

All ten collars were linked to the seal imprisoning the Kyuubi inside of Harry in addition to being a visual manifestation of the spells that he'd used to repress the Kyuubi's full size. Those collars were also how he'd contained the fox's chakra inside of the prison it had just left; leaving a transparent, orange-colored image of the Kyuubi's original form inside of the large cage.

Harry had to suppress the chuckle that bubbled up inside of him over how adorable the Kyuubi looked in its current form when compared to its original form. It was even harder to hide his amusement the moment the bijuu caught sight of its reflection in the red waters pooling at the base of the twin waterfalls.

"What did you do to me!?" the Kyuubi wailed in an obviously feminine voice.

"That was unexpected," Harry coughed as he choked on his tea. "I did not expect you to be female."

"I am not a female!" the Kyuubi hissed in the same girlish tones.

"Apparently this you is the feminine side of your original self; makes sense since you are no longer the same person… err being that you were before you were split in half."

"I hate pink!" the Kyuubi wailed and Harry burst out laughing over the fact that the thing that bothered the Kyuubi the most was that the bows on her collars were pink.

Sharp teeth latching onto his ankle a few minutes later brought Harry's attention back to his surroundings and his wand was soon poking the growling fox biting his ankle in the nose as all traces of amusement fled in the blink of an eye and his growled out an icy cold, "You will let go of me right this instant or I will transfigure you into a nine tailed rabbit and permanently die your fur bright pink."

"Laugh at me again and I will rip your throat out, worm," the Kyuubi threatened even as she rushed to release his ankle.

"If you don't want me to laugh at you, then don't act like a five year old drama queen."

"I hate pink."

"If you behave, then I may consider changing the color for you before I leave. Threaten me again and I'll paint this entire room and the inside of your cage all in shades of pink after I die your fur pink and turn your collars into daisy chains of pink flowers."

The Kyuubi sniffed as she thrust her nose up into the air and hopped up into the other chair so that she could snag one of the sandwiches that Harry had conjured for her (it wasn't real food, of course, but each sandwich did contain the memory of what an actual liverwurst sandwich would taste like). The two of them then sat there in silence while they enjoyed their refreshments (though the Kyuubi would deny enjoying anything given to her by a human) while Minato swore up a storm in the background and questioned Harry's intelligence and sanity with every other breath.

"So, what do foxes like to do for fun?" Harry inquired as he watched the distinctly feminine Kyuubi scratch at her collar like a dog with fleas while ignoring Minato's hissy fit.

"Hunt, kill, and mate."

"Well, I refuse to help you with that last one but I suppose I could figure out a way to have the Chamber of Seals provide you with squirrels, rabbits, fish, birds, lizards, and snakes to hunt. Maybe a second chamber off to one side so you can hunt the creatures in their natural habitat… I'll see what I can come up with so that the next time I visit I can give you a place to run and hunt. I would do it now but I was exhausted before I arrived here and I probably shouldn't have spent so much magic altering the Chamber of Seals and your cage because I really couldn't afford to use so much magic."

"You are unlike any human I've ever bothered to take notice of before," the Kyuubi remarked as she lapped at the bowl of tea Harry had provided for her and watched the wizard with one crimson eye.

"I have yet to meet two individuals that are identical in every way; regardless of what species they are," Harry absently remarked as his attention drifted to his memories; his eyes wandering over the murals and pictures representing his life on the left side of the room. "There may be similarities and we may all act a certain way in response to certain situations but we are all our own persons and there is something inside of us that is unique only to us; that is what makes us who we are and not just a carbon copy of our ancestors."

"You never did answer my question… why can't I view your memories? I could view the entire lives of my previous two hosts."

"I did answer your question; you just refused to believe me at the time," Harry pointed out as he glanced at the fox from beneath his fringe. "My magic prevents you from accessing my memories while at the same time allowing me to view your memories. I have had four years to strengthen the walls that separate your consciousness from mine. Or rather your sub consciousness since your consciousness technically resides within my little cousin."

"I demand that you allow me to see who you really are; I will know my jailer. And there is no way you can view my memories; you are nothing more than a soft-shelled insect."

"You can see glimpses of my life on the walls to my left; that is as much as I am going to allow you to see. I don't particularly care to share my mind with another but I realize in this case it's my own fault since I didn't stop to think about the consequences for making demands of a being I knew nothing about. That still doesn't mean that I'm going to grant you free access to that which makes me, me. And the images opposite of my memories came straight out of your memories; you can try to deny it all you want but the proof is in the pictures."

"You are an annoyingly stubborn fleshbag and I will make you suffer for your refusals to give me my due at the first opportunity."

"And I can lock you back into your cage permanently and make it a far more unpleasant place for you to stay than it was when I first arrived, fuzzball."

"Stop calling me that…" the Kyuubi whined as she scowled at him.

"What else do you expect me to call you after you refused to give me your name earlier?"

"You can call me Kyuubi-sama," the Kyuubi ordered which made Harry snort in amusement and disdain.

"Ah, no, not going to happen; I can't and won't call you that. Maybe Kyu-chan…"

"Absolutely not!"

"Momoiro-chan?"

"Do you have a death wish, little worm?"

"Well, would it really kill you to give me your name?"

The Kyuubi glared at Harry and the wizard was hard pressed to keep from laughing because it looked more like the demon was pouting than actually glaring due to the cuteness factor of her current form. After a moment, the shrunken bijuu finally muttered out a petulant, "My name is Kurama."

"It was a pleasure meeting you, Kurama," Harry sincerely replied as he felt his body pulling on his consciousness. "You were far different than I imagined you would be when I first learned of your existence. I have to leave now but I have no doubt that we will meet again. In the mean time, I will leave you with a parting gift."

Just before he disappeared from the mindscape of the seal, Harry flicked his wand to change the color of the bows on the Kyuubi's neck and tail collars from pink to gold while the collars themselves were transformed into solid black bands to better hide the runes that powered them. He couldn't have the fox studying the runes involved and therefore learning how to pick them apart in order to break free, after all.

* * *

**Translations:** Japanese to English

Momoiro – the color pink  
Oni Kyoudai – Demon Brothers  
Rikudou Sennin – Sage of the Six Paths

**Notes:**

Harry's fight with the Oni Kyoudai – now, I can see many people complaining that Harry should have wiped the floor with the brothers because the fight with Zabuza and Haku seemed far easier and Zabuza is far more powerful than the brothers. The reasons why it wasn't were:

1) Harry was tired – he's been run ragged since the day they'd arrived as he has taken it upon himself to do the dirty work while he leaves Kotetsu and Izumo to guard their client and he hasn't been sleeping well.

2) Harry was fighting against both brothers in the middle of the forest while he faced Zabuza and Haku with both of his teammates in a more open area.

3) Harry was not wearing his dragon hide cloak this time; which means that he wasn't as protected as he was during the other fight.

4) Harry's body was fighting the poison from the brothers' weapons and while the poison wasn't enough to kill him (because of his magic and the Kyuubi), there was enough of it in his blood to affect his performance because he'd been cut multiple times during the course of the fight. Not to mention the blood loss.

* * *

**AN:** _I had originally wanted a bigger fight scene between the Demon Brothers and Harry but any attempts to expand it fell flat. Adding more people into the fight only made things worse too. The meeting with the Kyuubi also didn't go how I planned but the Kyuubi was too exhausted to cooperate with me and I really didn't want my nose bitten off. __  
_

_Anyway, the next chapter will sort of pick up from where this one left off and explore how Harry's teammates and clients view his little stunt w/ the Demon Brothers. That chapter will be up on Wednesday so that I can have Thursday off for Thanksgiving. Until then, here's a few pumpkin pies to tide everyone over. ~ Jenn_


	31. Reflections

**Disclaimer:** _All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies and all Naruto characters are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites._

**Warnings:** _AU for parts of both worlds (i.e. kiss canon goodbye), mild character bashing, mild to moderate violence (there are shinobi involved after all), and a few others that will be announced as they crop up. _

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

**Chapter 31: Reflections**

_Monday, August 11, 2003, Evening  
Tazuna's Home, Nami no Kuni_

Twenty-nine year old Tsunami (daughter to the bridge builder Tazuna and mother to eight year old Inari) idly wrung the water from the cloth in her hands before folding the damp fabric and draping it over the forehead of the injured young man currently occupying her guest room. As she knelt beside the unconscious captain of the shinobi trio that her father had hired to protect his unfinished bridge and the people of Nami no Kuni, Tsunami's thoughts sifted through the memories of her interactions with the somewhat standoffish, if mostly polite young man.

The first time she'd seen the man had been when the strange copies of the man (two of them pretending to look like other people, including her father) had knocked on the door in order to inform her that her father and the team of shinobi he'd hired would be arriving soon. The clone had also made it a point to assure her that her father was unharmed despite the perilous journey he'd taken to hire a team of shinobi. She wouldn't actually meet the man himself until the day after the small group arrived at the house.

As she listened to the three shinobi interrogate her father in regards to Gato and the threat the island community faced that first night, Tsunami had been prepared to hate the emerald eyed man for the things his clone said to her father. Her hate and anger had evaporated halfway through the conversation when the man's strange duplicate had responded to Tazuna's attempt to manipulate the men's emotions by bringing up Inari during the conversation; her father had hoped to guilt trip the shinobi to make certain they didn't abandon the mission. Tsunami will never forget the man's words or the tone he'd used when he addressed her father.

'_Oh, so you want to play that way, do you, Tazuna-san? Well how's this for a guilt trip… I left behind my five year old son in order to perform this mission. I'm not married Tazuna-san, I'm the only parent my son has ever known and you know what the saddest part is? I'm not even my son's biological father. I'm his godfather. You see, I adopted my godson when his grandmother died nearly four years ago. She was a proud woman in the prime of her life but she lost the will to live after her heart was broken when her husband, her only daughter, and her son-in-law died one right after another within a six month period. My godson had less than a month with his parents before they died and he was just over a year old when his grandmother passed away._'

'_Had you been up front and honest about what this mission entailed, my team would have never taken it and you would have gotten a team with the experience necessary to deal with the problems here in Nami. Instead, you lied and my little boy now stands a rather high chance of being orphaned for the third time in his short life. That's not even considering the fact that I am also the guardian of my not-quite thirteen year old cousin; whose parents died the night he was born. Are you going to be the one to explain to my son and my cousin why I won't be coming home if I die here on this island because of your lies, Tazuna-san?_'

As a mother, Tsunami couldn't fault the man for resenting her father for lying about the situation in Nami no Kuni. She also couldn't fault her father for doing what he could to help the people of Nami.

Dealing with the actual man, and not his clones, had been rather different than she had expected since he was obviously much better at controlling his emotions than his clones. Takeshi, as she'd learned he was named, was unfailingly polite if a little on the blunt side; he obviously didn't believe in mincing his words, though he didn't go out of his way to hurt people's feelings either. Tsunami also hadn't failed to note that the man was extra sensitive to Inari's moods; the man going out of his way to avoid appearing in any way threatening around her son after picking up on the fact that Inari was leery of him.

Tsunami also hadn't missed the way her son snuck around and spied on the trio of shinobi when they were hanging about the house; particularly on Takeshi and his odd clones (there were just so many of the solid-but-not real duplicates that they always seemed to be under foot). She sometimes feared that her only child would one day declare an interest in becoming a shinobi due to some of the rather amazing and unbelievable feats the three men pulled off from time to time (like walking up walls or making things appear out of thin air). Each day that passed without that dire pronouncement from her little baby boy was another knife-to-the-heart that was safely dodged.

She could appreciate the shinobi for the things they've done to protect her home and her family but she had no desire to see her only child grow up to be a killer or be left to wonder each day whether that day would be the last time she saw her son alive.

Knowing how she personally felt about watching her son take up the life of a shinobi, Tsunami couldn't help but wonder how a young father could have taken up such a dangerous profession knowing he might one day leave behind a son. It had taken her two days before she gathered up the courage to ask the man why he continued to live the dangerous life of a shinobi if he was so worried about leaving his son and cousin alone. Takeshi's answer had been just as startling as his response to her father's attempts to make him feel guilty.

'_I could have chosen to take up the life of a civilian when I left behind my old life in order to move to Konoha so that I could watch over my cousin. For a while I toyed with the idea of becoming a business man. In the end, I chose the life of a shinobi because it is not in my nature to stand aside and allow others to give their lives to protect me. I also knew that being a shinobi would allow me the greatest chance to protect my family. The life I chose also brought me that much closer to a part of my family that I never knew existed until the day my brave little itoko turned up in my home town all alone and searching for his only surviving family._'

'_I'm sure I don't have to tell you how intense even the smallest connection to one's family can be for an orphan that grew up knowing nothing of who his parents were or what they did for a living. To finally make that connection has a profound effect on a person and it offers them a measure of comfort in the icy abyss of living a lifetime alone. Following in the steps of my grandfather and my uncle alongside my cousin allows me a glimpse of what my life might have been like if I had been born in Konoha. I felt the same way when I followed in my parents' footsteps to attend the boarding school where they met and fell in love with one another._'

Takeshi had then met her gaze as he finished with, '_I have no desire to leave my son without a parent but he will never be alone the way I was growing up because my cousin will be there for him to watch over him in my stead should I die. In the mean time, I will fight with everything I have to return home to my family at the end of each mission; that is just who I am and who I will be so long as I still draw breath._'

Tsunami's attention left her memories as her eyes fell once more upon the living flesh of the man who'd been filling her thoughts for so much of the past several days. He was a handsome young man, if a bit exotic looking with his thin face, aquiline nose, pointed chin, full lips, high cheekbones, full eyebrows, wide forehead, round eyes, and rich green irises (a color she'd never before seen in the eyes of a living person). The dark bird's nest that doubled as the man's hair gave him a boyish appearance while his tanned skin hinted at long hours spent beneath the sun.

In contrast, the many scars that covered the man (Tsunami had seen most, if not all, of them in the course of treating the man's numerous injuries earlier that day) made him seem far older. As did the blank expression the man tended to wear all the time, though the years dropped from the man's face when he smiled (something Tsunami had only glimpsed once or twice since he rarely ever smiled). There were times when the man's startling (and entrancing) green eyes led one to believe that he was positively ancient though; as if he'd seen far too much in his lifetime and it had aged him beyond his physical years.

And while she thought him attractive, she had no interest in pursuing him as a love interest; she'd already lost two husbands and she had no interest in allowing herself to fall in love with another man that would undoubtedly die young because of his chosen profession.

Her thoughts then turned to the condition in which she (or rather her impressionable son) had found the man in just that afternoon. She'd been digging through the supplies Takeshi had given her in an effort to plan that night's supper when she heard her son screaming for her in absolute terror. She'd rushed outside to find several clones converging on an unmoving figure pooled at her son's feet. It wasn't until she reached Inari's side that she recognized the fallen man as a half dressed Takeshi; his trench coat and shirt missing, his pants soaked in blood, and his chest streaked with blood and dirt.

She'd thought him dead until one of the clones pronounced him as alive if exhausted and semi-unconscious as the copy prodded the original with a foot. That had snapped Tsunami out of her shock as she shoved the clone that had toed the original towards the edge of the property and imperiously ordered it to report Takeshi's condition to his teammates. Two more clones had then been designated to haul the still bleeding Takeshi up to her guest room while another was told to do something about the blood soaking into the ground.

Tsunami had then knelt down beside her bawling son and hugged him tightly before ordering Inari to set her four largest pots on the stove and fill them to the top with water for her so she could boil some water. She had prayed the task would help break her son out of his extreme state of shock that he'd fallen into sometime around the moment his cries had trailed off. Tsunami had run into the house right after that to gather her first aide kit and an old sheet that could be cut up for bandages.

After a moment's hesitation, she'd also grabbed her sewing kit just in case any of the man's injuries needed to be sewn shut. She had then taken everything up to her guest room and shoved the sheet at one of the lingering clones while ordering the fake to tear the sheet into two inch wide strips. The other clone had then been instructed to strip Takeshi out of his pants and to clean him up so that his wounds could be treated.

While they were doing that, she'd hurried downstairs to check on her son and start the water boiling and found Inari standing in the middle of the kitchen shaking as more tears poured unchecked down his cheeks. Her little boy had then looked up at her with tormented eyes that cut sharply through her heart and pierced her soul with an unspeakable pain and a sense of failure for not being able to protect her baby from the harsher aspects of life.

'_Why?_' _Inari had demanded through his tears._ '_Why did he do it? I heard him that first night; he's got a little boy that's younger than me. So why would he do something so stupid? Doesn't he care how much it hurts?_'

Tsunami had only hesitated a brief moment before asking her son what he'd meant because she hadn't known how to answer his question without understanding exactly what it was that he was asking her. Part of her didn't want to understand because she didn't want to know just how much more of her baby's innocence had just been stripped away while the rest of her knew she had to know in order to help her son come to terms with whatever was bothering him. She felt her heart constrict when she heard Inari's answer even as she felt relief that it wasn't as terrible as she first believed.

'_I asked him what happened when I saw him stumble out of the forest and he said he was doing his job. Why would he take such a stupid job if it gets him hurt? Doesn't he care that he's hurting his little boy? Why did ojiisan have to hire shinobi anyway? Why couldn't we just leave and go live somewhere else where Gato wouldn't ever find us?_'

The single mother had done the best she could to answer her son but she'd been a bit rushed at the time because the knowledge that there was a man upstairs in her guestroom bleeding to death had never been far from her thoughts. Still, she'd at least given him something to think about other than the near death state of the injured shinobi. Tsunami made a mental note to speak to her son again first thing the next morning as she collected the cloth from Takeshi's head and dipped it in the bowl of cool water, wrung it out, and replaced the cloth; an action that was more about feeling as if she was doing something than about necessity since the man didn't even have a fever.

In fact, Takeshi's injuries had been no where near as severe as she'd expected them to be given the state that he had been found in. Once the worst of the blood had been cleaned away, she'd discovered a rather nasty bruise along the right side of his ribs, the dislocated and discolored joints of his severely swollen left arm, a trio of deep lacerations across his lower back, a shallow slice that ran across the man's jugular, and several smaller scrapes and bruises scattered from head to toe. She'd expected to find deep, life threatening gashes littering the man's body based upon the amount of blood he'd been covered in when she'd first seen him.

She'd nearly thrown up when it dawned on her that most of the blood might have belonged to the man or men that had attacked the shinobi. To keep her mind off the possibility that the man she was treating might have just killed at least one other human being, Tsunami stitched and bandaged the gashes on the man's back. The arrival of Takeshi's teammates helped distract her further when the two men quickly and easily dealt with the young man's dislocated shoulder, elbow, and wrist before they tended to the rest of his injuries.

Tsunami had fled the room at that point so that she could start supper, only to find that several of the unsettling clones had invaded her kitchen and were cooking the evening meal. She'd been half tempted to chase the fakes out of her kitchen but chose instead to attend to the other chores that she'd left undone in order to help the shinobi only to find that those too had been taken care of by the clones. After the meal, when the clones had deftly taken care of the clean up, Tsunami had grabbed the bowl of water and headed upstairs to nurse the shinobi since there was nothing else for her to do and she knew she'd go stir crazy if she didn't keep her hands occupied.

She was just adjusting the light blanket that had been draped over the man (to both protect him from the chill night air and preserve his modesty) when she was startled by the feel of a hand wrapping around her wrist with an iron grip. A soft gasp escaped her lips as she stared at the hand clutching her arm before she looked up to find slightly confused green eyes staring at her. Relief and fear twisted through Tsunami; the former because it was now obvious that the young man would live and the latter because the idea that the man holding her captive had killed hadn't been far from her mind since the moment she first thought it.

"Gomen, Tsunami-san, I didn't mean to startle you," Takeshi rasped wearily as he released her wrist fairly quickly. "I'm afraid I was a little unsure whether you were a friend or a foe when I didn't recognize the room I found myself in upon waking."

"No harm done, shinobi-san," Tsunami hurriedly assured the man as she calmed her racing heart.

"Could you tell me how long I've been out and where my teammates are?"

"You've been out somewhere between six and eight hours and your teammates slipped outside after supper in order to check in with the… other yous that you have running around all over our clearing."

"Arigatou, Tsunami-san; for both the information and for taking care of me. Is your son alright…? I vaguely recall the boy being the one to find me the moment I returned. I am afraid that I might have unintentionally frightened him by showing up in such a terrible state; covered as I was in my own blood and exhausted to the bone."

"That was all your blood? It wasn't the blood of your attackers…?"

"A bit of it might have been but for the most part the two rogue shinobi I was fighting were virtually unharmed by the time I captured them and ended the fight."

"Captured… you mean you didn't kill them?"

"Few shinobi actually enjoy taking the lives of others despite the fact that we carry a reputation for being blood thirsty killers. Yes, we do kill in the line of our work, but it is usually as a last resort or as part of a desperate attempt to save a life. We might grow numb to violence and bloodshed over time but most of us are not lawless criminals that sell our skills to the highest bidder just to line our pockets with other people's hard earned gold. We fight, bleed, and die so that others might live in peace and travel unmolested through the lands."

"Sumimasen, I should not have assumed…"

"You don't need to apologize, Tsunami-san; I understand why you automatically assumed the worst. I reacted much the same way when I first learned what a shinobi was and what they did. It took me years to understand that we are more like soldiers and policemen all rolled into one than we are like thieves and assassins that move in the shadows; our goal is to protect those who can't protect themselves, deal with criminals, and fight wars so others might live in peace. It isn't always a glorious job but it is a job that we can take pride."

"I don't think I've ever heard anyone describe a shinobi in quite that way before," Tsunami confessed as she silently realized that the man had once again managed to surprise her and give her something to think about.

"Few people do unless they are living side by side with shinobi," Takeshi gently pointed out as he pushed himself up using one arm.

"What in the world do you think are you doing?" Tsunami demanded with a soft gasp the moment she realized that Takeshi was trying to get up and hurriedly reached out to push him back down onto the futon. "You're in no fit state to get out of bed."

"I'm fine, ma'am," Takeshi insisted as he attempted to sit up a second time. "I heal fast and I have things I have to do."

"Oh, no you don't, mister; you're not getting out of this bed until your injuries heal. I will refuse to stitch up the gashes on your back again if you go and rip out the stitches because you're too damn stubborn to rest when you need it. And I will not have you frightening my son a second time by collapsing in front of him again. You owe him an apology and an explanation, by the way; he's very angry at you right now because he thinks you carelessly tried to get yourself killed when he knows that you have a son waiting for you at home."

Tsunami would have laughed at the shocked look on the man's face if not for the seriousness of the situation; at least he was no longer trying to get out of bed. Takeshi fell asleep just ten minutes later; the man's exhaustion had pulled him down into the arms of Morpheus the moment he stopped ignoring the state of his body. Shaking her head, Tsunami collected the bowl of water and the abandoned cloth (which had fallen the first time Takeshi had tried to sit up) and left the room.

As she slipped down the stairs, she couldn't help but think about how much the man had just reminded her of her son and how Inari used to try and sneak out of bed when he was sick just so that he could chase after Kaiza when her second husband was still alive.

* * *

_Monday, August 11, 2003, Late Night  
Tazuna's Home, Nami no Kuni_

Kotetsu glanced into each of the cells as he walked by them; checking to confirm that the new prisoners had been secured by Takeshi's clones. He was having more than a little trouble wrapping his mind around the fact that Takeshi had managed to kidnap Gato right out from under the noses of the bandits that had been lounging about Zabuza's base only to run into the Oni Kyoudai just after leaving the base. It never failed to amaze him how hot and cold Takeshi's luck tended to run; one minute things would be going better than expected and the next everything that could go wrong would go wrong at the worst possible moment.

Shaking his head, Kotetsu peered into the holding cell where the two brothers had been secured and frowned. It would have been better to separate the two men but Takeshi hadn't made enough cells. Kotetsu absently wished that Yamato had been with them; the Jounin could have easily grown additional cells in the blink of an eye. Well, Takeshi could have made more holding cells too; if not for the fact that he'd been rather seriously injured capturing the two missing nin.

Kotetsu turned away from the cell and grimaced over the reminder of the condition that he and Izumo had found Takeshi in once they'd returned to Tazuna's house. Intellectually, he knew that Takeshi hadn't been injured too seriously and that most of the injuries had already been taken care of by the bijuu the other man carried (Kotetsu and Izumo both aware that the younger Chuunin was a Jinchuuriki, even though they had no idea which bijuu the man held) but the sight of the man's ruined and blood soaked pants discarded off to one side had drawn them up short.

The first thing that had run through Kotetsu's mind when his eyes fell on the ruined pants had been the haunting demand that Takeshi's clone had made of Tazuna during their interrogation of the client; _Are you going to be the one to explain to my son and my cousin why I won't be coming home if I die here on this island?_

Even though the question had not been directed at him, Kotetsu couldn't help but wonder if he would one day be responsible for telling Naruto and little Satoshi that Takeshi had died on a mission. It was not a task he ever wanted to be called upon to perform. Not just because he'd grown very fond of the younger prankster and the precocious son of his teammate but because he didn't think he had it in him to break the hearts of the two young boys that thought Takeshi hung the moon and stars.

Shoving his morbid thoughts out of his mind (he was well aware that Takeshi would live and undoubtedly be right as rain before morning), Kotetsu finished checking on their prisoners before he made his way out of the prison. He then joined Izumo on the roof of the makeshift prison so they could watch over the clearing where Tazuna's house had been built; his eyes tracking the numerous Kage Bunshin that were still running about.

"Kinda makes you feel inadequate and more than a little useless, doesn't it?" Izumo inquired some twenty minutes later.

"Sometimes… mostly it just makes me glad he's on our side," Kotetsu countered. "On the plus side, keeping him around certainly keeps things interesting."

"True."

Another fifteen minutes of companionable silence passed before Kotetsu asked, "So, how bad do you think Naruto-kun is going to prank us once he learns that we weren't around to keep Takeshi from getting injured?"

"It'll depend on whether or not he learns the full list of Takeshi's injuries, if Takeshi ends up with any new scars, and if he gets injured a second time before the end of the mission," Izumo answered after giving the question some thought.

"We're going to pay dearly."

"Absolutely."

"Well, I suppose being pranked to death is far better than dying of boredom."

Both twenty-five year olds shared a laugh at that before they dropped down off of the prison roof in order to scout the perimeter, check on the state of their injured teammate, and insure that their client and his family were safely tucked into their beds – or at least make sure they hadn't snuck off on their watch.

* * *

_Tuesday, August 12, 2003, Early Morning  
Tazuna's Home, Nami no Kuni_

Harry was up with the sun and wishing his internal clock had a snooze button because he really could have used another day or two of rest. His entire body ached and he knew it was because his magical reserves were still rather low; he'd overextended himself during the fight with the Oni Kyoudai (and from his stunt with the Kyuubi's seal) worse than he'd originally thought he had. That was on top of all the magic he'd been tossing about since arriving in Nami. His injuries had at least finished healing while he'd slept, though the stitches that Tsunami had sewn into the gashes on his back were currently annoying him because his skin had healed right around them.

Sitting up with a soft groan, Harry began patting down his body in search of the pocket holding his healing potions only to recall that he'd taken off his cloak for his stroll through Zabuza's base. Knowing that he'd never make it out to where he'd left his cloak and the rest of his supplies without a pain relieving potion, he summoned an elf to bring him a vial of said potion and after discovering that he'd been stripped down to just his boxers, a change of clean clothes. Once the potion had taken edge off of his pain, Harry got dressed and went searching for his teammates in order to get an update from them on the status of the mission and talk one of them into cutting out the stitches.

He found an angry eight year old blocking the stairs leading down to the ground floor first.

A foot, sharp in the way that only an angry child's foot could be, connected with his ankle as the kid growled out an angry, "I hate you; you're nothing but a big jerk!"

If not for the pain potion he'd just ingested, the blow would have set his tender nerves to singing and he probably would have dropped like a rock. If not for the past three and a half years of training, the blow probably would have knocked him down anyway or at least set him to howling as he hopped around in pain. As it was, all it did was send a dull throb through his ankle and up his leg.

"And good morning to you too," Harry grunted as he picked the kid up and set him off to the side so he could walk down the stairs. "It's always nice to meet another cheerful early riser first thing in the morning."

He was halfway down the stairs when he sensed a fast flying object aimed for the back of his head. Sighing, Harry reached up and snagged the shoe the kid had thrown at him out of the air before it could hit him. He let out a soft whistle of appreciation when he found it to be a heavy wooden geta sandal; that would have left a nasty lump on his noggin if it had hit him.

"I appreciate the gesture kid but one shoe isn't really very useful; especially not when it's the wrong size," Harry quipped as he gently lobbed the sandal back over his shoulder, without looking, where it clattered harmlessly to the ground when the kid jumped backwards in surprise.

"Don't you even care?" the kid demanded as he finally got over the surprise of Harry returning the sandal in the same way it had been delivered.

"You'll have to be more specific, gaki."

"Don't you care that your kid will be left all alone when you die? How can you be so mean as to leave him? Why do you fight when you know you're going to die?"

"And who would protect my son from the likes of Gato if I am not willing to fight and die to protect him?" Harry asked softly in return as he stopped walking and half turned to face the boy. "How could I ever look my son in the eye if I cowered behind the fear of death and failed to protect him, his friends, his classmates, and his teachers? Someone has to fight and if I am not willing to fight for my family, then who will? If I am not willing to risk my life to protect others, then what right do I have to expect others to protect my precious people for me?"

Harry paused as he watched the kid's eyes grow wide and he could practically see the little gears turning in the kid's mind as something in Harry's words triggered a memory. Harry waited until the kid focused on him once more before he continued, "A great man once told me that it is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities. And throughout our life time, there will be times when we are faced with the choice of doing what is right over doing what is easy. When I first learned that your grandfather had lied to us about this mission, it would have been _easy_ for us to turn our backs on Nami no Kuni and walk away but it _would not_ have been _right_."

Harry watched the child for another minute before he turned and continued on his way out of the house. As he stepped outside into the thin, sun-kissed mist that filled the clearing, Harry couldn't help but reflect upon the number of times that Dumbledore's words had given him the courage to do what was right. There were times when he was still incredibly angry with his mentor over the meddling the man had done in his life but at the same time he was also incredibly grateful to the man for helping to make him who he was today.

As he stepped down off of the porch, Harry's eyes automatically cut to the west as he wondered what his friends in the Outer Countries were doing. It was at that moment that he realized he'd lost touch with the others and that he'd neither written to anyone nor received anything from anyone for nearly a year. A frown tugged at his mouth while guilt pooled in his belly before he forcefully shoved both the guilt and his worry out of his mind. He could rectify the unintentional distance he'd allowed to form between him and his friends and family on the other side of the barrier later; for now, he had a mission to complete.

"What are you doing out of bed?" Izumo demanded as he stepped around the corner of the house and spotted Harry standing in front of the house.

"Offering deep philosophical advice to all of the children that I run into; did you wish to hear yours now or did you want to wait until after breakfast?"

"Did you just imply that I'm immature?"

"I _implied_ nothing," Harry retorted with a smirk when he caught sight of the pouting scowl that Izumo was now leveling at him. "All teasing aside, I'm feeling much better than I did yesterday after my fight. I'll be a bit sore for a few hours yet though because I'm still rather exhausted. All I really need is for someone to cut the stitches out of my back before I hunt down something to eat. I'd have grabbed food first but I thought I'd check in with you guys and see what happened after I crashed."

"And the philosophical advice you were offering?"

"Tsunami's son took offense to the condition I returned in yesterday and when he attempted to take me to task for my apparent disregard of my son's feelings, I gave him some food for thought; after I returned the sandal that he attempted to bean me in the head with."

Izumo laughed heartily as he pulled out a kunai and gestured for Harry to turn around. Harry complied without any of the hesitation he might have felt six months earlier; lifting his shirt up just enough to expose the three lines of neat, tiny, and tight stitches that Tsunami had used to close the gashes on his back. As the razor sharp tip of the kunai nipped and tugged at the threads fused to his skin, Harry focused on Izumo's verbal report after giving a brief prayer of gratitude to whomever it was that had invented pain relieving potions as each stitch ripped his skin a bit as it was pulled out.

"Things have been fairly quiet since we returned yesterday afternoon. Your clones had secured the most recent prisoners by the time we got back. Tazuna has been real quiet and jumpy ever since he'd learned you'd been hurt while Tsunami and her kid have been rather moody. Tsunami nearly skewered a few of your clones when she found them in her kitchen last night but she eventually let them be as she tended to you personally."

"Do you know if any of the five new prisoners have woken up yet?"

"One of Gato's bodyguards was yelling and cursing a few hours ago according to the clones you have on duty but other than that, no. When do you think you'll be up to making additional cells? I really don't like the idea of the Oni Kyoudai sharing a cell."

"We won't need the extra cells," Harry countered as he leaned forward to allow Izumo better access to the lowest line of stitches in response to Izumo tapping on his back. "Once I get all of the information I can from the latest five prisoners, then we can make arrangements for them to be housed elsewhere. Now that we have Gato, everything else should fall into place fairly easily; providing nothing else goes wrong."

"What about all of the bandits that are running around terrorizing the villagers?"

"Well, we have several options… we could capture them and send them back to Konoha, we could capture them and turn them over to the villagers, we could just chase them out of Nami no Kuni, or we could dispose of them permanently."

"The Hokage won't want to deal with them, the villagers will either stone them to death or just set them free, and chasing them out is going to just cause problems in other places," Izumo pointed out as he pulled free the final bit of thread.

"So basically, we will have to leave them to the mercy of the villagers which might well see them back on the streets again or we give them a shinobi's final mercy?" Harry asked as he straightened up, pulled his shirt back down, and glanced over his shoulder to meet the gaze of his teammate.

Izumo didn't reply. There was no reason for him to say anything further; the answer was plain as day in his eyes.

"_May Merlin, Maeve, and Mungo protect and preserve me from madness and give me the strength to do what I must to protect the innocent,_" Harry solemnly intoned in English as he continued to hold Izumo's eyes. After a full minute, he tore his gaze away and headed for the temporary prison as he stated, "Thanks for getting rid of the stitches for me, Izumo. I'll be interviewing our newest guests if you need me… or I will once I grab something to snack on."

* * *

**Notes:**

* Slightly modified quote by Dumbledore taken from CoS, Chapter 18. Original quote: 'It is our choices Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities'. The bit about a choice between 'what is right and what is easy' is a reference to the speech that Dumbledore gave at the end of GoF (chapter 37) when speaking about Cedric's death and Voldemort's return.

* * *

**AN:** _Next chapter will be up on Friday and I think that's the last story in this arc... though there might be one more after that. I'm not certain as I'm working on a different story right now. In any case, I'll be posting the next arc right after I finish the Wave Arc since it's already written and I still haven't decided which story I'll be updating next. For now, I'll leave my fellow Americans with a HAPPY TURKEY DAY and the rest of you with pumpkin pie. ~ Jenn  
_


	32. Mission's End

**Disclaimer:** _All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies and all Naruto characters are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites._

**Warnings:** _AU for parts of both worlds (i.e. kiss canon goodbye), mild character bashing, mild to moderate violence (there are shinobi involved after all), and a few others that will be announced as they crop up. _

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

**Chapter 32: Mission's End**

_Tuesday, August 12, 2003, Late Afternoon  
Tazuna's Home, Nami no Kuni_

Once he'd finished viewing the final memory that he'd drawn from the latest prisoners, Harry sealed away the memory and stretched out his stiff and sore muscles. He then dug out another pain potion from the pocket of his cloak (which he'd dug out of his pack on his way to draw the newest prisoners' memories) and downed the potion. A soft sigh escaped from his lips as the lingering ache from his misadventure the previous afternoon melted away. Harry then quickly gathered up his collection of scrolls containing all of the memories he'd spent the day viewing, sorting, and storing and dropped down to put them away.

His next task was to sit down and write out another report for the Hokage. He also requested permission to transport their shinobi prisoners and Gato back to Konoha and briefly mentioned the lack of a local authority to which they could turn the hired mercenaries over to once they'd been captured. Right after he finished his report and had it shipped back to Konoha via house elf, Harry spent several minutes writing down the information he'd gleaned from all of the memories that he'd drawn from all of their prisoners so that he could make adjustments to the plans that he and his teammates had made to take down Gato Corporation.

That information included; the general layout of Gato's base, the location of his safes, the lock combinations for each of said safes, the location of any incriminating documents, the entrances to the smugglers tunnels where he stored the drugs, contraband, and stolen artifacts and merchandise that his company sold on the side, the guard rotations, and the total number of mercenaries, bandits, and shinobi (both the legitimate ones and the rogue agents) that he'd hired.

When he was finished with that, Harry began working out several different potential plans for dealing with the hired thugs and shinobi that were currently on the island. The latter group would be fairly easy to deal with (once they were subdued) as they would all be sent to Konoha so that the Hokage could decide their fates. The former group, however, could present a bit of a problem if the Hokage confirmed Izumo's prediction that Konoha wouldn't want to deal with them. If he and his teammates were left to dispose of them, then Harry was going to have to find a way to weed out those that could be redeemed from the cutthroats and mercenaries.

He knew that some of them were undoubtedly good people that had been forced to do terrible things for some reason or another and if he simply just killed them all, then he would be forever haunted by a guilty conscience. Harry may not have an issue with taking a life during a fight but there was no way he could execute any prisoners without making certain none of them had been forced into the life of a criminal against their will. He had never forgotten his godfather's plight and he could never sentence anyone to death (or imprisonment) without a trial because of what had happened to Sirius.

Harry was just considering the benefits of sending his elves to purchase a large enough supply of Veritaserum to dose each and every single hired mercenary in Gato's army (in order to weed out the true criminals from those who'd made a bad decision or were forced into their current position) when he received a reply from the Hokage. The wizard accepted the sealed scroll from the elf with trepidation; a scroll that would determine just how much blood would stain his soul before the end of the mission.

After a full minute had passed, he sighed and released the seal with a smear of blood and a pulse of chakra so that he could read the message inside.

_Takeshi,_

_Accommodations are currently being prepared for the shinobi prisoners that you and  
your teammates have captured to date or will capture shortly along with one for Gato  
Senshu. Once the holding cells have been prepared, transportation scrolls will be  
created and sent to you. _

_Furthermore, arrangements were made with the Fire Daimyou to deal with the hired  
mercenaries and civilian criminals that are part of Gato's forces after your first report.  
Additional transportation scrolls will be sent to you once I receive notification from the  
Daimyou's court confirming that they are prepared to handle the estimated numbers  
that you provided in your most recent report. _

_The first shipment of relief supplies are currently being gathered and loaded into the  
wagons that you graciously offered to supply for ease of transport. We will send you the  
supplies and a handful of medical personnel to treat those villagers in need of medical  
attention with an escort the moment you have confirmed that all hostile shinobi on the  
island have been contained._

_Sarutobi Hiruzen  
Sandaime Hokage of Konohagakure_

Harry felt as if a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders the moment he read through the line about arrangements having been made to deal with the civilian thugs. He really hadn't wanted to be forced to execute any prisoners through his oath; orders from the Hokage ironclad unless they would harm the village or his family. And removing potential threats would neither harm the village nor his family even if it would traumatize him. Feeling infinitely better, Harry rolled up the missive and tucked it into his cloak pocket so he could pass it to Izumo and Kotetsu when they returned.

The wizard then returned to his planning.

He would work uninterrupted for another hour before a flying sandal announced the arrival of the young Inari. Harry caught the flying footwear just before it would have clocked him upside the head and sighed before he leaned down over the roof of the makeshift prison to see what the gaki wanted. He was slightly surprised to see the boy smirking at him for once; since the eight year old usually scowled at him.

"A single shoe still isn't going to do be much good – even if it is almost my size this time."

"Okaasan sent me to tell you that supper will be ready shortly and to warn you that she will be very cross if you skip another meal."

Harry blinked in surprise over the second half of the message before he asked, "Your mother told you to tell me that she would be upset with me if I didn't show up for supper?"

"Yes. She's already mad at you because you snuck out of bed this morning. She's also mad that you skipped both breakfast and lunch today because you missed lunch and supper yesterday."

This time Harry shook his head over the strangeness of having a woman who couldn't be more than five, maybe six, years older than him going into mother-hen mode on him. It wasn't even as if she was an old friend that had grown up with him (like Hermione) or an old friend of his parents that saw him as a connection to the past. Maybe there was a gender specific instinct that all women carried inside of them that was activated upon obtaining motherhood or upon seeing blood. At least Tsunami wasn't quite as smothering as Mrs. Weasley tended to get (not that Harry had really ever minded it all that much when Molly coddled him a bit).

"And the reason why you felt the need to throw a shoe at me again?" Harry inquired as he refocused his attention on the eight year old that was still smirking up at him.

"You didn't answer when I called you," Inari replied with a shrug of his shoulders and without a trace of remorse.

Harry snorted because the slight smug cast to the kid's smirk suggested he hadn't tried very hard to get Harry's attention before he launched his mother's sandal at his head. He couldn't find it in him to be angry though, it was something that Naruto would have done in the kid's place (and had done on more than one occasion, though Naruto tended to throw pranks instead of shoes).

"Please let your mother know that I will join your family for supper once my teammates have escorted your grandfather home for the evening."

"Why can't you tell her that?"

"I suppose I could but then I'd have to tell her about the shoes you keep launching at my head. What would your mother think of you attacking an injured man?"

"Ano… that's alright, you don't have to tell kaasan anything, I'll go let her know you'll join us for supper tonight right now!" Inari cried as he immediately took off running for the house as if his feet were on fire.

"_Works like a charm every time,_" Harry chuckled to himself in English as he returned his attention back to his planning one more; nothing was more effective for acquiring a moment of peace than threatening the one breaking the peace with their mother (or other parental figure)… unless it was to threaten them with embarrassing pranks.

* * *

_Sunday, August 17, 2003, Early Evening  
Former Daimyou's Residence, Nami no Kuni_

Harry sealed away the last of the money and documents that he'd pulled out of the safe in the former Daimyou's office that Gato had used to store his valuables inside. Once that was done, the twenty-three year old took a long look around the office for anything he might have missed before he left the room to continue his search of the modest mansion. As he traveled down the hall towards what he knew was the master bedroom, Harry mentally ran through the list of tasks that still needed to be completed before his current mission could be considered completed.

At the top of the list was guarding Tazuna until construction on the bridge was complete; a job that would last at least another two or three days according to Tazuna's estimates. Next was rounding up the last of the hired mercenaries that were scattered about the island; most of them hidden within the tunnels that riddled the archipelagic nation. Harry's clones were hunting through the underground maze for the hidden bases at that very moment but it would still take time to flush the thugs out since he and his teammates were already spread thin. And the final task was to finish collecting the evidence against Gato; which Harry hoped to have finished within the next hour or two.

Pleased with the fact that they were mostly finished the mission, Harry mentally reviewed everything that had happened over the past five days.

After Harry had spent the entirety of the twelfth going through memories and making plans, the three Chuunin had spent three days systematically hunting down and capturing the five remaining shinobi that had been hired by Gato alongside Zabuza and the Oni Kyoudai. The hardest part had been finding the five of them; as they'd gone to ground the moment they'd discovered Zabuza's ransacked room mere hours after Harry had captured the Oni Kyoudai. Taking those five shinobi into custody had been a piece of cake; none of them anywhere near the level of Zabuza or the Demon Brothers.

It helped that they were facing three to one odds each time they located one of the enemy shinobi; the three Chuunin had trusted Harry's Kage Bunshin to watch over Tazuna and his family while they took down the enemy.

As soon as all five shinobi had been captured, Harry had sent notice to the Hokage. The Hokage in return had sent the promised transportation scrolls that would transport all ten of the high profile prisoners (the nine shinobi and Gato) to Konoha and word that the supply caravan had left Konoha. Once those ten prisoners were gone, Harry had converted the temporary prison he'd made into one large holding cell that could hold up to two hundred people. The trio had then begun rounding up the bandits and mercenaries that had been hired by Gato.

It had only taken two days to round up three quarters of the hired thugs as the trio caught them completely by surprise thanks to the clones that had infiltrated the various bases that had been set up throughout the island. Those they hadn't caught during those two days had been out on patrol at the time their base was raided or down in the tunnels. When they weren't scouring the island for the scattered mercenaries, the three young men took the time to interview the villagers; gathering more information on Gato's many crimes, collecting the names and detailed descriptions of those who had gone missing, and confirming the rough census that Tazuna and Tsunami had provided.

Once the majority of the mercenaries had been neutralized, Harry had made plans to raid the former Daimyou's Estate to collect Gato's personal effects that afternoon. Kotetsu and Izumo had come with him; the two older Chuunin remaining outside to stand guard and search the grounds for the unmarked grave of the Daimyou and his family. So far, Harry had spent close to three hours searching the house and sealing away anything and everything that could be linked back to Gato or Gato Corporation. The only two rooms left to search were the master bedroom and the basement.

As soon as Harry stepped into the master bedroom, he refocused on the task at hand and created a pair of Kage Bunshin to help him gather up and seal all of Gato's clothes into a scroll. While they were doing that, Harry drew his holly wand and began summoning the stolen trinkets, incriminating documents, and other valuables that Gato had kept in the room. Once the spell no longer drew a response, Harry quickly sealed everything away before he searched the room for the safe he'd seen in Gato's memories so that he could empty it as well.

"Aren't you finished yet, Takeshi?" Izumo demanded as he stuck his head in the room just as Harry finished clearing out the safe; nearly earning a stunner in the face when he startled the magical Jinchuuriki.

"Just the basement left to search now," Harry replied as he resheathed his wand. "Did you and 'Tetsu find the Daimyou's grave?"

"Aa, we think so; though the bodies were too far decayed to accurately identify him or the other four bodies that had been buried in the same grave."

"Not completely unexpected when you consider the fact that they'd been buried without a coffin," Harry murmured as he suppressed a shudder of distaste; the idea of half rotten corpses bringing to mind the inferi that he'd encountered in the seaside cave that Dumbledore had taken him to at the end of his sixth year. "I can call his spirit back to this plane to confirm the location of his and his family's grave now that I know the man's full name."

"Does that mean he'll be sticking around like the Yondaime?"

"No, Minato is a special case – I haven't found a way to get rid of him yet."

"_I feel so unloved_," Minato deadpanned as he appeared beside Harry the moment his name had been spoken.

"Not my fault that you're dead boring, cousin," Harry quipped with a smirk at the deceased blond.

"_Ha, ha, ha; lovely pun – did you think that up all by yourself?_" Minato snarked back with a barely disguised snort of amused exasperation. "_I think I much preferred it when you were far too respectful of my feelings to resort to gallows humor._"

"Need I remind you that you're the one that told me to stop tiptoeing around the topic of death and your current state?"

"_I never thought you'd take that as permission to openly joke and tease me about my death._"

"Don't pretend you don't enjoy my morbid sense of humor," Harry countered as he joined Izumo in the hall outside the room with a pouting Minato trailing along behind him.

"So, did you want help searching the basement?" Izumo inquired after he'd stopped chuckling at the two cousins; the older man long used to Harry interacting with the dead shade. "Or are you going to summon the dead Daimyou first?"

"I'm not prepared to summon the Daimyou just yet," Harry replied as he briefly thought of the Resurrection Stone that was securely hidden behind the strongest wards he could produce back in Konoha alongside of his cloak; he'd stopped carrying those two items when he first started taking missions outside of Konoha for fear that he'd lose either of them in a fight or that the cloak would be damaged. "Actually, I won't be able to call on his spirit until we return to Konoha because I had not planned to call upon the dead while I was here in Nami. And I wouldn't mind having a hand with the basement; if you're sure 'Tetsu-senpai won't fall asleep without you there to slap him awake."

"Kotetsu will be fine on his own for a bit; he has a couple of your clones to keep him from falling asleep out of pure boredom," Izumo replied with a snicker.

Harry laughed as the two of them moved through the mansion towards the kitchen where the entrance to the basement was located. It would take the two Chuunin roughly forty-five minutes to pack up the smuggled and stolen goods that were stored in the room. The last thing they did before they headed out to join Kotetsu was to seal up the hidden entrance to the underground tunnels that was located in the basement in order to prevent any of the thugs still running loose from retaking the Daimyou's residence now that it had been cleared.

The two of them then joined Kotetsu outside in time to see him securing a couple of drunken bandits that had apparently walked right into him. Just before they left the area with their latest prisoners, Harry sent a couple of clones to ward the grounds of the Daimyou's residence to further secure it against future intrusions. They would arrive back at Tazuna's house just after supper and Harry left Kotetsu and Izumo to sweet talk Tsunami into forgiving them for being late while he hauled their latest prisoners off to the rather crowded holding cell (the Hokage had not yet sent the transport scrolls that had been promised for the civilian thugs).

Inari would deliver Harry's supper to him (along with the now standard accompanying sandal to the head – not that the kid had yet managed to actually clock Harry with one of the offending shoes) just ten minutes later. Harry teasingly told the kid he threw like a girl and subsequently earned a pouting glare in return before the kid bravely dared (more like demanded) Harry to teach him how to throw properly. Surprised at Inari's boldness, Harry silently regarded the eight year old while he ate a couple of bites; noting the determined glint in the kid's eyes.

He then agreed to show the kid how to throw once he'd finished his food. Tsunami found them thirty minutes later and the older women lit into Harry like nobody's business when she saw that Harry was teaching Inari how to throw a kunai (after he'd given the kid a few pointers on throwing shoes and rocks). He couldn't fault the woman for being angry; he should have gotten her permission before teaching her son anything but in his defense, the kid was rather stubborn and had not been satisfied just learning how to throw sandals.

Harry apologized for overstepping his boundaries but refused to apologize for trying to teach the kid how to protect himself. He knew far too well what it felt like to be young and defenseless in a dangerous world. That would be the last time Harry saw more than a glimpse of Inari for the remainder of his mission; Tsunami had forbidden her son from having anything further to do with the three shinobi.

Harry wouldn't have much time to feel guilty about getting the kid in trouble with his mother. He was far too busy planning a raid on the underground tunnels as he poured over the rough map he'd made of the natural maze that sat beneath the island so that the last of the mercenaries could be rounded up. The biggest problem would be sealing up all of the potential escape routes in order to prevent any of the thugs from getting away once he and his teammates started striking each of the designated bases in the hidden labyrinth.

They had sealed up several entrances to the tunnels over the past several days but Harry wasn't arrogant or naïve enough to think they'd found all of the exits. And while he could theoretically spam the entire network of tunnels with clones; that didn't mean that was the smart thing to do. Clones weren't the answer to everything and if he didn't make an attempt to solve the problem without abusing the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, then he'd never grow above his current level. Besides, he was already using the clones extensively to watch over the bridge and Tazuna's house as well as searching the island for more entrances.

And he didn't need the extra headache of trying to sort out memories on the fly while trying to catch the bandits since he'd undoubtedly miss something and end up in a worse situation because that was when his luck would invert again.

When he wasn't making plans (with the frequent input from his teammates), he was either on the bridge watching over Tazuna and the rest of the workers or patrolling the village on the off chance that one of the hired thugs turned up to harass the villagers; jobs that he shared with both Kotetsu and Izumo. Neither job was very demanding but that didn't mean that the three Chuunin didn't take their duties seriously; even Kotetsu stayed alert despite how boring it was to patrol the bridge and village. Regardless of what Harry was doing, his mind continued to plot out his team's next move.

By the time the three Chuunin returned to Tazuna's house around supper time that night, Harry had tentative plans in place to deal with the last two dozen or so mercenaries that were still on the island. He would bounce his idea off of his teammates while he cooked their supper (Harry feeling far too leery of Tsunami's temper to even think of imposing on the small family's hospitality at the moment). By the time they finished eating, the three of them had made solid plans to infiltrate the tunnels an hour before sunrise the next morning.

Their plans would be derailed a half an hour later by the arrival of another letter from the Hokage accompanied by a large scroll holding one hundred seventy-five transportation seals. According to the Hokage's letter, the seals couldn't be activated until after seven o'clock the next morning; when the Fire Daimyou's guards would be in position to receive the prisoners. Each seal would also need to be activated in two minute intervals to allow the guards enough time to secure each prisoner before the next one was transported. That meant that it would take close to six hours to transport all of the mercenaries that they'd captured to date.

After a short discussion, it was decided that they would put off their raid on the tunnels for a day so that Kotetsu and Izumo could ship off the prisoners while Harry watched over the bridge and the bridge builder and his clones patrolled the village.

Bright and early the next morning, Harry saddled Felix when he noted the gelding was more than a little restless due to the fact that he'd been pastured on a lead line since the day they'd arrived. Harry would then ride double with Tazuna to the bridge in order to both save time and allow Felix to burn off a bit of energy. Once they arrived at the bridge, Harry would leave a couple of dozen clones to watch over Tazuna, the workers that turned up to work on the bridge, and the village while he cantered along the length of the not-quite-finished bridge to check the integrity of the temporary wards that he'd placed on the structure.

Once he'd ridden the length twice, he dropped down to the ocean's surface (the wizard circulating his chakra through the gelding once more) in order to check on the ward stones he'd placed in the water. That process involved summoning the numerous rocks he'd sunk with the ward runes on them so that he could check them for damage and return them back to their original places (the current had shifted the stones over the time they'd been in the water). It was a task that would take Harry most of the morning to finish. The magical shinobi would then return topside to join Tazuna at the construction zone for lunch.

Harry had just finished tying the reins of Felix's bridle to one of the steel beams when several of the workers called out in alarm. The wizard automatically apparated to the very edge of the unfinished bridge before he'd even finished consciously registering their cries so that he could find out what had frightened the men. He had half drawn both of his wakizashi blades from their sheaths on his back before he registered exactly what it was that he was seeing. The moment he saw the makeshift wooden bridge connecting the unfinished end of the bridge to the shore of Hi no Kuni, he knew that there was no danger.

There was only one man that he knew who could grow his own bridge and neither Harry nor the workers need fear him. Sliding his blades back into their scabbards, Harry relaxed and addressed the workers, "You can relax gentlemen; you're in no danger from the new arrivals."

"How can you be so sure?" a rather scruffy looking man demanded as he scowled at Harry before casting another worried glance at the newly grown extension.

"Because the man leading them is my Jounin teichou," Harry replied as the rumble of wagon wheels on wood reached his ears. "And he is escorting the much needed food and medical supplies that Konoha sent to relieve the suffering that Nami no Kuni has endured while under Gato's tyrannical control. There will be…"

The rest of Harry's words were cut off as the twenty three year old was tackled by a blue, orange, and blond blur with a loud cry of, "Niisan!"

Team Kakashi had, apparently, been assigned as part of the escort along with Yamato and it had been Naruto that had tackled the green eyed shinobi. Housei and Midori soon joined the impromptu dog-pile; it had been well over two weeks since the three Genin had seen the Chuunin and they had apparently missed him a bit. Those seventeen days were also the longest time that Harry had been separated from Naruto since the day they'd met one another. Harry laughed beneath the three teens as he distributed noogies and hugs in equal measure; he'd missed them just as much as they'd missed him.

"Did you purposefully go looking for trouble the moment I left or was this just more of your usual luck?" Yamato demanded in exasperation as he walked up beside the quartet and toed Harry's leg with his foot.

"Kotetsu got bored and my luck took care of the rest," Harry quipped back with a snort as he freed himself from the kids so he could stand back up. He'd barely regained his feet before Naruto latched onto him once more; the blond burying his face in Harry's side as he wrapped his arms around Harry's waist. "To tell you the truth, I'm just thankful that it was our team that got this mission. I shudder to think of what might have happened if Kakashi had shown up first that day and had been assigned as Tazuna-san's escort instead."

"I was rather impressed when I learned that the three of you captured Momochi Zabuza alive," Kakashi interjected as the group moved to one side to allow the two wagons carrying the promised supplies to trundle passed them; both wagons being driven by one of Naruto's shadow clones.

"Zabuza and his accomplice were a piece of cake when compared to the Oni Kyoudai," Harry countered with a slight scowl. "Those two bastards damn near killed me when I ran into them while I was alone."

"Nani!?" Naruto yelled as he jerked back and stared up at Harry in horror.

"A pair of Chuunin shouldn't have given you that much trouble," Yamato stated with a frown.

"It wasn't their skills that nearly killed me; it was the poison they coated their blades in. Well, that and the blood loss I was suffering from and the fact that I was tired at the time," Harry explained as he led the group back to where he'd left Felix; his eyes noting the two dozen uniformed guards wearing the sigil of the Fire Daimyou, the four green clad medics, and two masked AnBu Guards that had accompanied the supply caravan. "If I'd been wearing my cloak during the encounter, then they'd have never cut me up as bad as they had; since the cloak would have deflected more than half of their attacks. Unfortunately, I'd left my cloak behind when I infiltrated Zabuza's base that day and the two brothers caught me as I left."

"Why weren't Kotetsu and Izumo with you?" Naruto demanded as he briefly scowled at Harry before he began searching for the two men in question. "Where are they anyway? Shouldn't they be here too?"

"They were guarding our client the day I ran into the Oni Kyoudai and they spent this morning shipping our prisoners off to their guest quarters."

"As entertaining as it would be to watch you prank Kotetsu and Izumo for not keeping your cousin out of trouble, we still have a job to complete," Kakashi pointed out as he deftly began herding the three Genin in the direction of the still moving wagons. "Our job is to protect the medics and the supplies. You can finish catching up with Takeshi later."

"How many more mercenaries are still running free? And do you know where their base camp is located?" Yamato inquired as the three Genin reluctantly allowed their Jounin to shuffle them off.

"Roughly two dozen and they are scattered throughout the network of tunnels that run beneath the entire island. We had originally intended to flush them out this morning but we had to postpone our plans in order to transport those thugs that we'd already caught to the capital. Are you going to be taking over command of this mission now?"

"No, I'm here to help rebuild portions of Nami no Kuni's capital and to provide backup should you need help in rounding up the last of the bandits. Once Team Kakashi has finished overseeing the distribution of the supplies that were sent, they'll be available to help as well."

"I see," Harry mused with more than a little relief; having five extra bodies would make rounding up the last of the thugs a bit easier. "Ano, just out of curiosity, why are Daimyou's men here?"

"The guards are here to keep order and help reestablish the former government; that will include organizing an election for citizens of Nami to elect a new Daimyou to replace the previous lord."

Yamato stuck around a few minutes longer in order to gather a little more information before he headed into town where he would grow a small hospital to house the sick and injured while the team of medic nin treated them. Harry watched his friend and captain walk away for a moment before he returned his attention to his mission. As he stood guard over Tazuna that afternoon, Harry felt far more at ease than he had since the day he'd first learned that the bridge builder had lied about the mission.

Until Yamato and Team Kakashi had arrived, Harry hadn't even realized just how stressed he'd felt over being separated from his family for so long.

The final four days of the mission would pass by in a blur for Harry. Most of that first night had been spent filling Yamato and Team Kakashi in on the details of what had happened on the mission once everyone had finished their assigned tasks for the day. The following day would be spent rounding up the last of the mercenaries and shipping them off to Hi no Kuni's capital where they would be held for trial. Harry would then spend most of the twenty-first pulling down his wards from around the island while Yamato grew a new grocery store, a bank, a new school house, two hotels, and a small police slash guard station for the Daimyou's men.

Team Kakashi had spent that time helping the medics finish setting up the hospital, tearing down the old grocery store, and helping the villagers clean up the village (Naruto spamming his clones everywhere in order to tackle everything at once while his teammates supervised and coordinated the clones' efforts). Kotetsu had spent the day shadowing Tazuna while Izumo watched over Tsunami and Inari – the bridge builder's daughter and grandson venturing into town for the first time since the shinobi arrived in order to help with the clean up.

Tsunami would end up regretting bringing Inari into town with her because the eight year old ended up becoming fast friends with Naruto. Apparently, the two boys had bonded over their mutual respect for Harry and the fact that Inari was impressed to finally meet Harry's cousin. Harry would end up being on the receiving end of a second blistering lecture from the woman when Inari boldly announced his desire to become a shinobi that night at supper. The only reason the woman didn't strangle him in her ire was because Tazuna had stepped in to calm his daughter down.

Tsunami's adamant refusal to allow Inari to travel to Konoha to take up the life of a shinobi would do an abrupt one-eighty the very next day when the villager's elected her father as Nami no Kuni's next Daimyou upon completion of his bridge. The reason she gave for changing her mind was that her son would need to know how to defend himself from assassination attempts after he had been named his grandfather's heir. He would also need a proper education; something that Nami couldn't provide for him in its current condition.

The woman had cornered Harry yet again after that in order to tell him that she would hold him personally responsible for her son's health and education. Harry didn't hesitate to agree to watch over the eight year old; he'd grown rather fond of the gaki. The green eyed Chuunin would also end up as a temporary guardian for another three orphans that were roughly the same age as Tazuna's grandson that same day once word got out that he would be sponsoring Inari's enrollment in Konoha's Shinobi Academy.

The villagers hoped that the orphans would have an easier life in the larger village with the added bonus that if they ever returned to Nami, they would bring with them the training necessary to help them protect the village from future tyrants. A scenario that would more than likely come to pass as they would only be required to serve on Konoha's shinobi force for a minimum of five years if they passed the Genin exams once their education was complete due to the fact that they would still be considered citizens of Nami no Kuni. It was an arrangement that had long served those smaller nations that didn't have a Hidden Village to protect them from outside threats.

The completion of the bridge also marked the end of the mission and Teams Yamato and Kakashi would leave first thing the next morning with their four charges in tow. The first stop they made as soon as they crossed the bridge, which had been named the Great Naruto Bridge by Inari (much to Harry's bemusement), was to collect the wagon and shire team that had been left in a secured clearing all of this time.

The large group would then spend the next four days on the road.

* * *

**Translations:** Japanese to English

Ano – uh/um  
Gaki – brat  
Oni Kyoudai – Demon Brothers

* * *

**AN:** _This chapter feels a little rushed but I actually expanded a couple of sections when I was editing it to make it a little less so. Part of the rush was also intentional though as Harry is feeling impatient for the mission to be over after all of the trouble that had cropped up and this chapter is from Harry's PoV. The next chapter will wrap up this arc and transition into the next one and will be up tomorrow night. ~ Jenn_


	33. An Eventful Debriefing

**Disclaimer:** _All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies and all Naruto characters are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites._

**Warnings:** _AU for parts of both worlds (i.e. kiss canon goodbye), mild character bashing, mild to moderate violence (there are shinobi involved after all), and a few others that will be announced as they crop up. _

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

**Chapter 33: An Eventful Debriefing**

_Wednesday, August 27, 2003, Early Afternoon  
Konohagakure no Sato, Hi no Kuni_

Harry pulled Felix to a stop just outside of Konoha's main gate and half turned to face the line of wagons that three of his clones were driving. Felix pranced excitedly beneath him and wickered; the gelding well aware that they were nearly home now and eager to rejoin the herd. Reaching down to settle the horse with a gentle pat to his neck, Harry let his eyes run over the three pairs of shire horses that were pulling the wagons to check for any signs of lameness. Once he was certain the horses were still in good condition (if a bit tired and sweaty from working all morning), Harry turned his attention to the four children that were soaked in sweat and covered in dirt.

The twenty-three year old snorted in amusement as the bone weary children trudged along beside the wagons; they were not quite as enamored of a shinobi's life at the moment. From the moment they had left Nami no Kuni, Harry had had the four boys working on their physical condition to prepare them for the day they started at the Academy. That included making them walk beside the wagons for most of the journey and run through a mild cardiovascular workout after they made camp each night.

The only thing that kept them from whining and complaining was the fact that the three Genin on Team Kakashi did the same exercises right alongside of them. Naruto had also taken to entertaining the younger boys by telling them stories of all the training he'd done before he'd become a shinobi to keep them from dwelling on their exhaustion and soreness.

Harry spared a quick glance at his teammates and Kakashi before he slid down off of Felix's back and passed the reins to a clone that popped into being beside him. The clone then mounted the gelding a let out a sharp whistle that had the three wagons splitting off from the group to follow the mounted clone; they would take them home so that the horses could be unharnessed and brushed out before they were released into the pasture for some well deserved rest. Harry then began leading the group towards the Hokage's tower so the two teams could give their reports.

The green-eyed Chuunin had already written up his report for both the original mission to escort and protect Tazuna and the mission he and his fellow Chuunin had been given to take down Gato Corporation. He would have preferred to send the report through his elves so that he could just go home but knew the Hokage would be put out if he did that. The man undoubtedly had questions in regards to the mission and the method that he'd used to deliver his missives to Konoha while he was still in Nami. Heaving a silent sigh, Harry pushed down his own exhaustion and glanced back to make certain no one had fallen behind before he climbed up the stairs that wrapped around the outside of the Hokage's Tower.

Ten minutes later, the twelve of them entered the Hokage's office and the Sandaime put down the report that he'd been reading as he warmly greeted, "Ah, welcome back Team Kakashi, Team Yamato, and guests; I had wondered when I would be seeing you again. I trust your journey home was uneventful?"

"Hai, Hokage-sama," Harry murmured in response.

"Good, good. Might I inquire who it is that you've brought with you?"

"Of course, Hokage-sama," Harry replied as he gestured for the four children to step up beside him. "Allow me to introduce you to Inari – the grandson and heir of the newly elected Daimyou of Nami no Kuni, Tazuna the Bridge Builder." Harry noticed the Sandaime's widen slightly in surprise before he quickly schooled his face back into a polite mask. "With him are his friends; Akihiro, Hikaru, and Kazuki. All four of these fine young boys asked to accompany us back to Konoha in order to attend the Shinobi Academy."

"I see," the Hokage drawled in a thoughtful tone as he briefly inspected the four children. "Did their parents write out notification of their consent or did the boys sneak off without informing their parents of their intentions?"

"I have a letter of introduction from Tazuna-dono for all four boys granting them permission to attend the Academy and assigning temporary guardianship of them to the Namikaze Clan. As the Head of the Namikaze Clan, I agreed to sponsor the children for their enrollment and see to their care for the duration of their enrollment and subsequent tour of duty as a Shinobi of Konoha," Harry replied as he passed the sealed letter over to the Hokage. "Should any of the boys fail to obtain a hitai-ate at the end of their education, the Namikaze Clan will see to it that they are either escorted back to Nami no Kuni or sponsor them for citizenship in Konoha if they wish to stay."

The Sandaime opened the letter and quickly skimmed through its contents before he set it off to one side and studied the four nervous children. Harry thought he saw the man's eyes dim briefly when his eyes lingered on the three orphans but it could have been a trick of the light.

"Very well, I will have their names added to the roster for the next term at the Academy. That will give you three months to prepare them since the current term is already half over. I will have one of my aides deliver the necessary paperwork that you will need to fill out for their sponsorship and the temporary guardianship to you later this afternoon. You will also need to make an appointment at the Hospital for all four boys to have a complete physical prior to their first day at the Academy."

"That shouldn't be a problem."

"Good. Naruto, why don't you and your teammates escort the boys home and get them settled in while I debrief your sensei and the others," the Sandaime suggested as he passed Tazuna's letter of introduction back to Harry so that it didn't get lost amongst the rest of his paperwork. The Hokage waited just long enough for the four boys to be escorted from the office by the three Genin before he asked, "Which one of you would like to go first?"

Harry stepped forward after briefly glancing at both Jounin present; his would be the longest report because he'd been in charge of the original mission that had ended up dragging the other two to Nami no Kuni. Harry did his best to keep his report short and to the point as he covered all of the major points; Zabuza's ambush, Tazuna's confession, infiltrating the shinobi's base, capturing Gato, dealing with the Oni Kyoudai, rounding up the bandits, and gathering all of the evidence necessary.

There were only two bits of information that he left out of his report. The first was the news that the half of the Kyuubi that had been sealed inside of him had awakened and that he'd made contact with the creature. He knew he'd eventually have to tell the Hokage about the Kyuubi's awakening but he was not sure if he was ready to deal with the inevitable fallout that that revelation would engender. He was also still toying with the idea of waiting until Jiraiya was in town so the Sennin could confirm that the seal was intact to help put paid to any fears that the Hokage or his advisors might have that the Kyuubi was close to escaping just because it was now awake.

The other bit of information he left out was the bit about him taking memories from the first handful of prisoners. Part of that was because he was not yet ready to divulge all of his skills (he liked having trump cards). Another part was because he was more than a little worried how they would react to the information that Harry could use Legilimency as well as copy or modify memories. And the last part was the possibility that the Yamanaka Clan might be offended about him using abilities similar to their family abilities or worse, that they might think he copied or stole their abilities for himself.

He would have to carefully question Ibiki and Shikaku in order to find out how Inoichi would react before he shared that information; if he ever shared that ability.

Once Harry had finished giving his report, Kotetsu and Izumo added a few details that occurred on their watches or during the time that Harry was unconscious due to his injuries. Kakashi stepped forward next to give his report on the escort he provided for the supplies and medics, meeting up with the Daimyou's men, distributing the supplies to the villagers, and the political state of the once beleaguered country. Yamato would then go last to give a report on the physical state of Nami; listing the buildings he'd put up for the townsfolk and the villagers' efforts of cleaning up in the wake of Gato's removal.

The Hokage would ask several questions once they'd each finished giving their reports before he collected their written reports to add to the notes that he'd taken during their debriefing and the earlier reports that Harry had sent back to the village. The five of them were dismissed a moment later. Harry made to leave with his teammates at that point only to find his way blocked by Minato (figuratively speaking since the ghost couldn't really stop him from leaving).

"_You need to inform the Hokage about your encounter with the Kyuubi,_" Minato stated in what Harry had silently dubbed his 'Hokage' voice.

"_I will eventually,_" Harry replied in English (in order to keep his side of the conversation private since Minato was not currently visible to the room at large – his cousin still respecting his privacy instead of announcing what had happened to the room at large despite the fact that that was what he wanted Harry to do) as he frowned at his cousin's shade in response to him practically ordering him to share what basically amounted to personal information.

"_No, you need to tell him right now; least you end up being censured for withholding information. Your position in Konoha is still precarious because of how many secrets you are still keeping and if you don't tell him now, then it will create all kinds of problems when you do finally bring it up. There is also the fact that you are now a shinobi of Konoha and the status of your seal is serious business. Keeping that information out of your written report is not a big deal but you'd better come clean now to avoid creating a bigger headache for you and the rest of the family later._"

"_Would it really be that big of a deal if I wait until Jiraiya is in the village?_" Harry inquired with a slight scowl as he ignored the questioning looks of the Hokage, Kakashi, and his teammates as they all stopped to see what was keeping the Chuunin; though it was apparent to everyone present that he was talking to Minato's spirit even if they couldn't see the ghost (they'd seen him talking to the air enough times to realize what was happening).

"_Yes. And you might as well tell your teichou to stick around for that conversation since the status of your seal will impact future missions._"

"_Ah, bloody hell,_" Harry complained as he crossed his arms. "_Sometimes I truly wonder what possessed me to take up a hitai-ate._"

"Is there a problem, Takeshi-san?" the Sandaime inquired once Harry fell silent.

"No, not exactly," Harry hedged as he briefly glanced towards Yamato before he swung his gaze to the Hokage. "Minato just reminded me about a minor incident that occurred during the mission that I had left out of my report due to personal reasons. He advised me to speak to you and Yamato-teichou about it now, rather than later because of the potential ramifications." The wizard then glanced towards his teammates and Kakashi. "I suppose I should include my teammates and Kakashi as well since Kakashi already knows the basics and I'd rather not be pranked for leaving Izumo and Kotetsu out of the loop."

"And what is so significant about this 'minor' incident that Minato felt the need to prod you into mentioning it?" the Hokage inquired as Yamato closed the door and moved back to stand beside Harry while Kakashi, Izumo, and Kotetsu stayed where they were.

"I didn't fall into true unconsciousness when I passed out after capturing the Oni Kyoudai," Harry explained as he dropped his gaze to the floor to hide his discomfort over the reminder of how much trouble he'd had subduing the two brothers. "I did not wish for my Kage Bunshin to dispel since it would have created all kinds of problems due to how many individuals my clones had been impersonating at the time. Instead, I fell into my mindscape and the moment I did, my consciousness and Minato's spirit were drawn into the seal housing the Kyuubi."

"How is that possible?" Izumo demanded in surprise before Harry could finish reporting the incident. "Doesn't Naruto-kun hold the Kyuubi…?"

"The short answer is that the Kyuubi was split into two entities the night of the attack and there are now two Kyuubi in existence; I can give you the full explanation later," Harry promised as he glanced at his teammates. He then turned back to the Hokage to finish his report. "As I was saying, Minato and I were drawn into the seal when I fought against falling unconscious and our presence there woke up the Kyuubi. I originally planned to wait until Jiraiya was in the village before I said anything though; I wanted him on hand so that he could check the integrity of the seal at the same time."

"You do realize that attempting to withhold that information looks very bad from this side of the Hat, ne?" the Hokage stated in a measured tone and Harry winced even as he nodded. "That said, I can understand why you left that tidbit out of your written report and why you wished to wait for Jiraiya to return. I do appreciate the fact that you were willing to listen to Minato in this case. Did you make contact with the bijuu while you were unconscious?"

"Yes, she was not what I expected."

"She!?" Kotetsu choked in shock.

"Yep, it seems that I ended up with the Kyuubi's feminine side," Harry drawled with a small smirk. "She's still in denial though and for some reason has a real aversion to the color pink. Personally, I think she just dislikes the way the color pink clashes with her flame-colored fur. I thought she looked rather cute with the fluffy pink bows on her neck and all nine tails."

Twin slaps were heard as both Kakashi and Yamato palmed their faces in response to Harry's smart-mouthed quips about the bijuu contained within him. The Hokage looked rather constipated and his skin was the pasty gray-green of someone who was feeling distinctly ill and on the verge of throwing up. Izumo and Kotetsu in the mean time were silently flapping their mouths as they tried and failed to come up with a response to Harry's flippancy.

"And has it… she been trying to influence you?" the Hokage inquired after taking a moment to collect himself.

"No, the Kyuubi has still not regained her full strength back," Harry replied as he dropped his playful tone. "The only reason why she woke when she did was because Minato and I had been present within the seal. I also confirmed that she does not have access to my subconscious mind or memories thanks to my Kekkei Genkai; meaning that she won't be able to influence me through my dreams. I should also warn you that I fully intend to make contact with her again in order to learn as much as I can about her so that I can prepare Naruto for the moment when he inevitably meets the half of the Kyuubi he holds."

"I'm going to ask that you wait until Jiraiya has had a chance to check the integrity of the seal before you seek to contact the Kyuubi intentionally," the Hokage half ordered as he fixed Harry with a stern gaze. "I'm not foolish enough to forbid you from contacting your tenant, because I realize the value in gathering information, but I do not wish for you to take foolish risks that could place all of Konoha in danger should you accidentally unleash the Kyuubi."

"I can't promise that I won't be drawn into the seal due to circumstances outside of my control but I will promise that I will not actively seek to contact the Kyuubi until Jiraiya has had a chance to look over the seal. I need to do a bit of research before I approach her out again anyway; I promised to provide her with a virtual hunting ground to keep her from getting bored while she's lounging about in the sealscape. I learned the hard way that it is unwise to leave pets alone for too long because they tend to make bigger messes when they are bored."

"Pet…? The Kyuubi… you… it… pet…?" Kakashi incoherently gasped out in disbelief.

"Well, it's hard to see her as anything but a pet when she's shrunken down to the size of a cocker spaniel; she's a right little ankle-biter when it comes down to it."

"I'm not even going to ask," Yamato deadpanned as he shifted his fingers just enough to glare at Harry through the hand he still had over his face. He then frowned a bit as he asked, "Did you actively draw on the Kyuubi's chakra at all while you were within the seal?"

"Not that I am aware of," Harry replied with a shrug of his shoulders. "My clones didn't have any memories of me drawing on the Kyuubi's chakra at any point after I fell 'unconscious'."

"That is reassuring," the Sandaime murmured. "Please keep me informed of any other developments in regards to your passenger. I will inform Jiraiya that his presence is needed in Konoha sooner, rather than later, and will inform you the moment I know when he will arrive."

"Wakarimasu, Hokage-sama."

The Hokage then dismissed the five of them a second time. Just before he left the office, Harry was reminded not to miss his end of the month appointment with Ibiki and to make an appointment to see Tsunade within the next forty-eight hours because he'd missed so many of his weekly sessions with her while he was on his mission. That was also a subtle hint that he needed to have a full medical evaluation done to insure that he'd not suffered any lasting damage from his encounter with Gouzu and Meizu (the Oni Kyoudai) or his brief contact with the Kyuubi.

The moment they stepped outside of the Hokage's Tower once more, Harry absently said goodbye to his teammates (which included a promise to meet up with them later to give them an explanation) before he apparated to the Namikaze Ranch between one step and the next. He would spend an hour there checking up on the horses and checking in with his elves to make sure there had been no problems while he was gone.

Once he was satisfied that everything was still running smoothly despite his longer than expected absence, Harry began wandering through the streets in the direction of the Namikaze Wheelhouse. As he walked, his thoughts turned inwards as he considered his life here in the Elemental Nations. He also allowed his thoughts to return to those that he'd left behind in the Outer Countries. Guilt and shame filled him for a moment as it felt like he had abandoned them before he realized that it wasn't so much abandonment as it was drifting apart as they too had fallen out of contact with him.

He hoped they didn't hate him for leaving them but he knew he never would have fit in with that world after everything he had learned and experienced since meeting Naruto. Looking back now, Harry actually wondered if he ever really belonged in the magical world. Sure, he was a wizard but just because he had magic did not mean that the wizarding world was his home.

They didn't want him there.

Not really.

They wanted the Boy-Who-Lived.

And he had been sick and tired of being their scapegoat long before Naruto had turned up out of the blue and turned his life upside down even as he gave it direction. Oh he still loved the magical world and he dearly missed his friends (and fully believed that they missed him in return) but he also knew now that he never would have been happy there. Not even if he'd never met Naruto.

Not like he was here.

And wasn't that rather shocking.

When he'd first come to Konoha, he'd been prepared to forever hate the village and its people for what they had done to his cousin. And now here he was seeing the sprawling village as home. He'd dug his roots in deeply here. There was no way he could go back to the other side and leave his life here behind. The only thing that would make it better was if his old friends could join him here or at least come to visit him every now and then. He wouldn't even mind visiting them on the other side a time or two.

After a while, Harry looked up and found himself just outside of the training grounds he'd claimed two years earlier and he made a mental note to send a letter to his friends on the other side of the Barrier before he turned his thoughts to more pressing matters; such as what he was going to do about the newly awakened Kurama. Right now, the fox wasn't really that much of a threat to his mind or his sanity but Harry thought that had more to do with the fact that the bijuu hadn't fully recovered from the nine years of torment in the shinigami's stomach and being sealed inside of Harry yet.

He also wasn't arrogant enough to think that he'd earned the bijuu's trust after one short exchange of insults – even if the fox had given him her name.

If he hoped to actually gain the creature's trust enough to have her work with him, then he was going to have to follow through on his promise to make a mental equivalent of the Room of Requirement for her to romp around in so that she could run around and hunt to her heart's content. He would also have to make an effort to get to know the fox and give her just enough information about him and his life to satisfy her curiosity. The idea of trying to befriend the demon wasn't exactly a sane plan but forcing the creature into submission and angering it further was just asking for trouble.

That was especially true if he took into account his usual flip-flopping luck.

Shaking his head, Harry shoved all thoughts of the Kyuubi out of his mind for the moment. He needed a good night's rest before he tried to figure out how he was going to deal with his burden. Turning away from the empty clearing that he'd been staring at for who knew how long, Harry continued on his way home. His thoughts quickly turned towards his son at that point and he soon began hurrying along as he recalled just how long it had been since he'd last seen Teddy.

Harry would be tackled by a miniature blond blur the moment he turned the corner and stepped onto the street that the Namikaze Wheelhouse occupied. The twenty-three year old let out a laugh as he swept his five year old son up into his arms and spun him around in a circle while hugging him tight. His arms tightened instinctively when he recalled how bad his most recent mission had turned and how much worse it could have been. He felt a brief flash of old anger as he recalled how Tazuna had lied about the mission before he stamped down on his irritation and buried his nose in Teddy's hair and breathed in his son's familiar scent.

"I missed you, tousan!" Teddy declared as he tried to burrow deeper into Harry's arms.

"I missed you too, squirt."

"You were gone forever!"

"We ran into a little trouble on our mission and it took longer than expected to deal with everything. I don't think we'll be taking another mission out of the village for a while though. If we do, they shouldn't be anywhere near as long as this last one was."

"Promise…?"

"No, I can't promise because I am not the one who usually picks which missions we take and there will be times when my team will need to take a longer mission. But I can promise that I'll be around for a couple of days at least since I've got a lot of work to catch up on after I was gone so long."

"Okay," Teddy muttered with resignation.

"So, what kind of trouble did you get into while I was gone? Have you been practicing your pranking?"

"I got into all kinds of trouble when I put worms down Mai's dress after she teased Daichi about his new haircut and called him names. She squealed like a baby and danced all around until sensei made her sit still so she could get the worms out."

"That's my boy; I'm proud of you for defending for others. The old worms-down-the-dress is real a classic. Next time, you should try to be a bit sneakier about how you prank the bullies; that way you don't get into as much trouble. And I would consider an ant invasion instead of worms; they are less noticeable and require less work to get them onto a target since ants naturally swarm when disturbed. Fleas are also another good alternative since they are harder to see but they can be tricky because they're likely to jump targets. Just remember to avoid seriously hurting anyone or causing any permanent damage – so make certain your targets aren't allergic to any of the bugs you plan to use in case they get bit."

"Wakatta, tousan," Teddy agreed solemnly before he slithered out of Harry's arms and began dragging him up the stairs that led up to the apartments above the family restaurant.

"Did I just hear you encourage your son to prank the other children?" a familiar voice demanded in amusement.

"Of course, what kind of role model would I be if I encouraged my son to ignore blatant bullies?" Harry quipped in reply as he stopped walking and half turned to face Yuugao when the vivacious kunoichi dropped down onto the stairs from the roof. "Besides, it would be hypocritical of me to tell my son not to prank the bullies when he knows that I prank the bullies whenever I catch them in the act of bullying another."

"You're incorrigible," Yuugao retorted with a snort of amusement.

"I try," Harry modestly admitted as he tried to ignore the way his insides were tying themselves up in knots due to the little sexy smile of amusement that the kunoichi was wearing. An impatient tug on his hand reminded him that Teddy wanted to spend time with him after the long separation. "I hate to cut our conversation short but my son's a little impatient for me to spend some time with him after I'd been gone for nearly a full month."

"Oh, that's okay," Yuugao murmured as a small blush dusted her cheeks and for a moment Harry thought she sounded disappointed. "I had only stopped by to see if you were up a spar after hearing that you were back since I had the rest of the day off but if you're busy…"

"Normally, I would jump at the chance to train with you but I'd be setting myself up for some rather humiliating pranks from the squirt here if I ditched him to play with swords."

"Tomorrow then…?"

"So long as nothing else comes up, I can probably spare a couple of hours for a spar."

"I guess I'll see you tomorrow then."

"Or you could stick around and hang out with us for a bit," Harry offered before his brain caught up with his mouth. "If you don't have anything pressing to do and if you don't mind playing board games, that is."

"Demo… demo… she's a girl; they have cooties!" Teddy adamantly complained as he gave another tug on Harry's hand.

"Chigau, it's only fan-girls that have cooties. Yuugao, on the other hand, is a proper Kunoichi and therefore one hundred percent cootie-free."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Well, you can always tell when a girl has cooties because the cooties get up into their brains and make them go all loopy and forget how to use their common sense; that's why they act all crazy around certain people. The more cooties they have in their brains, the worse they act around the person they are obsessing after."

"Does that mean you've already been infected with cooties, tousan? You always act weird when Yuugao-san is around and you always say she's really, really pretty. Ojisan also always says you have it bad whenever obasan mentions her name and you're not around."

"_Remind me to prank your aunt and uncle for gossiping later,_" Harry growled in English as he felt his face heating up in embarrassment over his son's rather innocent questions and observations. To prevent his son from embarrassing him further, he quickly suggested, "Why don't you go pick out a game and set it up, squirt?" Teddy squealed in excitement before he dashed on up the stairs leaving the mortified Chuunin alone with his crush. He then cleared his throat and offered a nervous, "Sorry about that… apparently, I'm not the only one corrupting my son."

"No apologies necessary, Takeshi," Yuugao insisted as her lips curled up in a small smile. "In fact, I found your son's observations to be rather enlightening."

"Er, you did…?"

"Most definitely. He even answered a question that has been plaguing me for quite some time."

"He did…?"

"Yes, he did. Would you like to know what that question was?" Yuugao agreed as she stepped closer to Harry and he automatically backed up a step only for his back to collide with the wall.

"Ano… I don't know… maybe? Maybe not…?"

"You are so adorable when you get all flustered," Yuugao breathed with a soft laugh as she took another step closer and leaned towards him.

"Ano… Yuugao, what are you…?"

The rest of Harry's question was cut off by Yuugao pressing a finger to his mouth before she replaced her finger with her lips. Harry froze the moment he felt her soft lips press themselves against his; it had been over four years since he'd last kissed a girl. Harry's brain still hadn't quite recovered from the shock of Yuugao kissing him (let alone wanting to kiss him) when his body reacted to Yuugao's kiss on autopilot as his hands settled themselves on the kunoichi's hips and his mouth began actively participating in the kiss.

He let out a soft moan a few seconds later when Yuugao pressed her body closer to his and deepened the kiss in response to his participation. Desire pooled in his belly as his brain simply shut itself off completely and his hands began gently kneading Yuugao's hips. Yuugao's hands slid across his chest before sliding over his shoulders where they gravitated to his neck; her fingers teasing the fine hairs at nape of his neck. A shiver raced down Harry's back and he let out another quiet moan that morphed into a soft whine when Yuugao broke the kiss and stepped back.

"I will see you tomorrow afternoon for that spar, Takeshi," Yuugao breathed before she gave him a second, chaste kiss on the cheek.

After her lips pulled away this time, she leapt up to the roof at the same time as the door to the apartments above burst open. A split second later, Teddy stuck his head out the door to call out, "Hurry up, tousan!"

Harry opened his eyes, which he couldn't remember closing, and glanced up towards the impatient five year old as he called back a slightly shaky, "Be right there, squirt."

Teddy gave out a yip of excitement as he disappeared back inside of the apartment. Harry remained where he was for a moment as he reached up to brush his fingers across his lips while part of him wondered why Yuugao had kissed him. After another minute had passed, he pulled himself out of his thoughts and pushed himself away from the wall before he began trudging the rest of the way up the stairs before Teddy came looking for him again. Just before he stepped through the door that Teddy had left open, Harry glanced towards the nearby rooftops for any sign of the kunoichi but sighed in disappointment when he didn't see her.

Harry would remain rather distracted for the rest of the night as he played several rounds of Mousetrap with Teddy and the rest of the children in the house.

* * *

**Translations:** Japanese to English

Ano – uh/um  
Hai – yes  
Otousan/tousan – father  
Wakarimasu – I understand (formal – present tense)

* * *

**AN:** _So, Harry's teammates now know about the half of the Kyuubi he holds and a small handful of people are now aware that his half of the Kyuubi is awake and that he's spoken to her. And things between Harry and Yuugao are finally going somewhere! I know I had hints of how both of them felt in past chapters but trying to find an appropriate moment in which to hook them up was difficult without it throwing off the plot. Just when I was despairing of ever getting them together, Teddy waltzed in and used kid-logic on them. Gotta love them incidental prank moments. _

_Anywho, I'll be posting the next chapter tomorrow and it's going to delve a little deeper into the situation with the Kyuubi, the way that situation is viewed by a handful of others, and will have his second meeting with the bijuu. ~ Jenn_


	34. Carnival Sideshow

**Disclaimer:** _All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies and all Naruto characters are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites._

**Warnings:** _AU for parts of both worlds (i.e. kiss canon goodbye), mild character bashing, mild to moderate violence (there are shinobi involved after all), and a few others that will be announced as they crop up. _

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

**Chapter 34: Carnival Sideshow**

_Tuesday, September 02, 2003, Mid-Afternoon  
Konohagakure no Sato, Hi no Kuni_

Harry silently followed Yamato into the Hokage's office; the two of them had just been notified that Jiraiya had finally returned to the village. The wizard probably would have felt more than a little nervous about the coming meeting (since the results could affect his current standing in the village) if not for the fact that he was more than a little preoccupied by the continued absence of Yuugao. Harry hadn't seen or heard from the woman since she'd kissed him the day his team had returned from Nami and he was beginning to think that she was avoiding him. She'd not even shown up to spar with him the next day like she'd said she would.

He would quickly shelve his long-held insecurities and growing frustration over her disappearance the moment he felt the Sandaime activate one of the more powerful barriers that protected his office from eavesdroppers. A brief scan of the office revealed that Tsunade, Inoichi, Ibiki, and Shikaku were in attendance in addition to the Hokage, Jiraiya, and Yamato. He was actually surprised that a number of the individuals he had expected to be present for this meeting were conspicuous in their absence (such as Kasai, the Hokage's advisors, and his former AnBu Guards).

Part of him was glad that Yuugao was not in attendance because he was certain he would have made a complete arse out of himself if she had been there. At the same time, her absence also made him wonder if she really was avoiding him. He quickly pushed the matter out of his mind a second time when the Hokage began speaking.

"Now that we are all here, shall we get down to business?" the Hokage inquired as soon as Harry and Yamato finished greeting those present.

A grimace briefly flashed across Harry's face before he began unbuckling the various blades he carried with him ninety-five percent of the time. A quick flick of his holly wand produced a side table for him to place the blades on. He then removed his dragon hide cloak and shirt next so that neither garment would get in Jiraiya's way as the man inspected the Containment Seal on his stomach. The last thing he did was put away the glass disks he used for his daily chakra control exercises.

Harry felt a touch awkward standing in the middle of the Hokage's office half dressed but he easily ignored the feeling. Seven years on the Gryffindor Quidditch Team and sharing a dorm with four other boys had long since inured him to being in a partial state of dress in front of others. He might have once felt highly uncomfortable being in such a state in front of Tsunade but she'd quickly teased him out of his embarrassment within the first four months he'd lived in the village thanks to the weekly appointments he'd had with her to monitor his chakra coils.

That didn't stop the light flush from creeping up the back of his neck when he noticed the smirk on her face though.

"Light 'em up, Takeshi," Jiraiya instructed as he stepped up beside Harry so he would have a clear view of the wizard's stomach.

Harry quickly complied with the gruff command as folded his hands together in the ram seal and began circulating his chakra through his body. Within seconds of him actively channeling his chakra, the Containment Seal binding half of the Kyuubi to his soul shimmered into existence on his abdomen. At first glance, the seal appeared identical to the Hakke no Fuuin Shiki adorning Naruto's stomach but the moment one looked closer, they would notice several very small differences.

The first difference was the number of turns that made up the spiral in the center of the design; the one on Naruto's stomach only had two full circles while Harry's had three. The thickness of the lines making up the spirals were also slightly different, the lines on Naruto's were roughly a millimeter thicker than one on Harry's. Additionally, the mirrored Shishou Fuuin that bracketed the spiral contained slightly different symbols. Finally, centered overtop of the entire seal (in a razor thin line that was barely visible) was a faint imprint of the Deathly Hallows symbol.

Most of the differences were insignificant; a mere indication that the seals had been created under completely different circumstances and powered by two different chakra signatures. The inclusion of the Deathly Hallows symbol was what truly separated Harry's Containment Seal from Naruto's seal.

That little addition was what would unleash the half of the Kyuubi sealed inside of Harry upon his death; the symbol meant to act as a doorway between Harry's soul and the world the moment his body ceased to function.

It was also the reason why Minato's soul was trapped in the world of the living and why his spirit was so tightly tied to Harry's body. Unknown to both wizard and ghost, it was also the death magic in the Hallows that prevented Minato's ghost from becoming a vengeful spirit since his soul lacked the magic necessary to stabilize his presence in the land of the living. Without that link, Minato would have lost all sense of self within the first three months of his release from the Shinigami's stomach.

The first time Jiraiya had noticed the faint symbol of the Hallows, the older man had freaked out a bit. Apparently, the Deathly Hallows symbol looked very similar to the symbol used by a particularly nasty cult that worshiped an unpleasant god by the name of Jashin. The symbol of Jashin consisted of an upside-down triangle inside of a circle. Once Jiraiya had calmed down enough to note that the symbol of the Hallows consisted of a vertical line bisecting a circle inside of a right-side up triangle, he calmed down and questioned Harry about he symbol.

At the time, Harry had still been rather mistrustful though and all he'd told Jiraiya was that the symbol was meant to represent death in the society into which he'd been born. It was the truth but it was not the full truth; since the Hallows represented so much more than just death. They were also a representation of humanity's fear of death and the inherent need and desire to survive that most humans embraced throughout their lives. That is not to say that all humans desired immortality, they didn't; it just meant that they wished to survive on an instinctual level.

There were, of course, exceptions. Sometimes, people lost their will to live. Other times, people just didn't have the strength to keep going.

That was only natural though.

Death, as frightening and final as it is, was merely one aspect of life.

A person is born, they live, and then they die.

That was the truth that Harry had accepted when he'd walked out to offer himself up to Voldemort in order to destroy the final horcrux in his scar.

Harry hadn't felt a need to explain all of that to Jiraiya at the time though. It wasn't that he didn't think the man would understand, because if anyone could understand the cycle of life and death, it would be a shinobi. He just hadn't wanted any one to reach the conclusion that he'd technically died for a brief moment. He had also had no desire to let anyone outside of the family know that the Hallows both existed and that he owned all three. The power they represented was far too tempting and he had no way of knowing if there were any other magicals living in the Elemental Countries.

The twenty-three year old was drawn out of his musings a moment later as Jiraiya announced, "The seal is still stable and it shows no signs of degradation or stress."

"That is good to know," the Hokage murmured with more than a little relief.

"Takeshi, would you be willing share your impressions of the Kyuubi with us?" Shikaku requested with obvious interest.

"She; the half of the Kyuubi that is sealed in me is female," Harry absently corrected as he ceased circulating his chakra and dropped his hands now that Jiraiya had finished inspecting the seal. "As for my impression of the fox; she is proud, very proud. She was also angry and confrontational. I would almost dare to say that she was confused and uncertain of what to make of me because she does not have access to my memories or my subconsciousness. The most notable thing I noticed was that she was still rather exhausted."

"She…?" Tsunade repeated incredulously.

"What…? Were you expecting the Kyuubi to be asexual simply because she is not human?"

"Tch, next you'll tell us that it has a name too."

"She does but I don't have permission to share her name with you," Harry retorted with a small smirk when he noted the brief look of shock that passed over the woman's face. "Getting her to tell me her name was like pulling teeth from a rabid squirrel in a peanut factory. She also has a mild aversion to the color pink."

"It is a shame that I can not view your memories of your encounter with the creature," Inoichi lamented absently.

"And I am thankful for the protection the Kyuubi's mere presence offers my mind from such intrusions," Harry countered flatly as he briefly glanced at the blond.

"Did you notice any anomalies during Takeshi's most recent medical assessment, Tsunade?" the Sandaime inquired to bring the meeting back on topic.

"Yes, the amount of stress that the steady influx of demonic chakra has been placing on Takeshi's chakra coils was halved. I do not know if the reduction is permanent or temporary though and will continue to monitor the situation for the next month or two to insure that any significant fluctuations won't cause serious damage to his chakra network."

"Do you know what caused the drastic change or when the change occurred?" Shikaku asked as he glanced between Harry and the kunoichi.

"No."

"Takeshi…?"

"No clue; I can't sense any difference in the flow of the Kyuubi's chakra that is mingling with mine."

"Could it be the result of the Kyuubi waking up and attempting to reclaim or withhold her chakra from the seals in an attempt to build up the power she would need to break free of the seal or influence her host?" Yamato inquired as he immediately jumped to the worst case scenario in order to prepare for the worst (a mindset that most high level shinobi fell into since it increased their chances of survival).

"No, the bijuu's state of consciousness should not have had any impact upon the seal's basic function," Jiraiya refuted without an ounce of hesitation.

"On top of that, I took time to place a few security measures while I was trapped within the sealscape," Harry added nonchalantly as he pulled his shirt and cloak back on before he buckled his swords back into place.

"What did you do?" Shikaku half demanded as he almost dropped his lazy façade.

"I collared the Kyuubi with binding seals and created a leash that allows me to control exactly how much of her chakra she has access to. I could, theoretically, stripe her of her chakra entirely if it should prove necessary. The best part is that she willingly allowed herself to be tied the moment she gave into her curiosity; which means that the bindings are far stronger than they would have been if I had attempted to force them on her. Additionally, the new seals are set up in such a way that they will automatically strip the Kyuubi of her chakra in the event that someone attempts to remove her from the seal. They should also activate upon my death and leave the Kyuubi powerless the moment she leaves the seal."

"Are you implying that you basically neutered the Kyuubi with its consent?" Jiraiya demanded in shock.

"Well, technically, you'd have to say I had her spayed; she is female. I take my responsibilities as a pet owner very serious, you know."

"Would you please stop referring to the Kyuubi as your pet?" the Hokage requested; his voice containing an obvious note of discomfort in regards to Harry's irreverent references to the half of the Kyuubi sealed inside of him.

"I make no promises, Hokage-sama."

The older man glowered at Harry for a brief moment before he addressed Jiraiya once more, "You are certain that the Containment Seal is stable?"

"Hai, sensei."

"Are you still determined to establish further contact with your prisoner, Takeshi?"

"Yes, I believe the best way to prepare Naruto for the day he inevitably faces the half of the Kyuubi that he holds is for me to learn as much as I can from the half that I hold. And the best way to do that is for me to speak with my passenger and compare what I learn from her with what I have learned about the Kyuubi from Mito-sama and Kushina-san."

"You will also need to start learning how to access, use, and control the Kyuubi's chakra," Jiraiya mused in a thoughtful tone.

"He'll do no such thing until I am one hundred percent certain that his chakra network has fully adjusted to the constant influx of the Kyuubi's chakra into his system," Tsunade interjected with a growl as she glared at her teammate. "The last thing we need is you pushing him too far, too soon when a single miscalculation could potentially shatter his coils!"

"I wasn't implying that he should begin drawing on the Kyuubi's chakra right this instant, hime."

"It would be best to work on that outside of the village in any case," Shikaku added as he gestured at the sprawling view of the village that filled more than half of the office's windows. "No need to incite panic in the village now that things have finally settled down after all of the upheavals over the past fifteen years."

"We can discuss Takeshi's training later; right now I am more concerned about his planned attempt to intentionally contact the bijuu he holds," the Hokage stated before the argument could continue. "To that extent, I would like for Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Yamato to monitor the attempt so that we can monitor your health throughout the process and so that the Kyuubi's chakra can be suppressed in the event that you unconsciously draw upon the fox's chakra during the encounter."

"We'll need to set him up in a remote location that either has medical equipment already in place or the space to bring in the medical equipment necessary for me to monitor him," Tsunade stated as she eyed Harry for a moment.

"There is a medical facility located in the basement of the Exam Tower within the Forest of Death," Ibiki pointed out. "It is also outside of the village's defensive barrier; which means that any flare ups of the Kyuubi's chakra will be less likely to be noticed inside of the village. And I request permission to be present during Takeshi's attempt to make contact with the Kyuubi."

"What am I; a carnival sideshow? What's next; are you going to sell tickets and offer free popcorn and peanuts to the audience?"

"Oh don't be ridiculous, gaki," Shikaku drawled around a laugh. "We'd need to hire a bookie first so that we can place bets on whether or not your infamous flip-flopping luck is going to play up during the attempt."

"I hate you, Shikaku," Harry deadpanned as he shot the man a mock glare. "Just for that, I'm not going to let you bully me into playing another game of Shogi with you for at least a month."

"How much time would you need to prepare?" the Hokage inquired as he smothered what suspiciously sounded like a laugh.

"I'm ready now but the rest of the circus needs to get their act together," Harry answered around a sigh.

"I am ready now, as well," Yamato stated without hesitation.

"It will take me two hours tops to calibrate the equipment in the Infirmary since I can bring Shizune along to help me get things set up," Tsunade replied next.

"I should be able to cobble together a seal capable of suppressing the Kyuubi's chakra within two hours," Jiraiya added on the heels of Tsunade's reply.

"I will clear my schedule for the rest of the afternoon and head to the Exam Tower to secure the facility and evacuate the forest," Ibiki offered after a brief conversation with Inoichi.

"I will deploy two squads to patrol the perimeter of Training Ground Forty-Four just in case things get out of hand and to keep everyone else out during the encounter," Shikaku stated on the heels of Ibiki's declaration.

"Very well," the Hokage acknowledged. "I wish you good luck in your endeavor. Please send word when the venture is over so that I can arrange for us to meet again to discuss the results within the next day or two."

"Hai, Hokage-sama," all of those involved stated in unison as the privacy barrier was deactivated.

Two hours and fifteen minutes later, Harry was once again wearing nothing but his pants as he sat on a hospital gurney while Shizune hooked him up to an assortment of medical equipment that would be monitoring his vital signs. The green eyed wizard tried not squirm in discomfort while he waited for her to finish. He would have been happier to meet with the Kyuubi in the privacy of his own bed but he understood why the Hokage wanted him to be closely monitored during the attempt. That didn't make him feel like any less of a freak show at the moment though.

"Alright, that's the last of them; go ahead and lay down," Shizune stated as she began fiddling with the various machines to make certain they were functioning properly.

It would be another five minutes before Harry was given the go ahead and the wizard took a deep breath before he closed his eyes and let his consciousness sink into his mindscape. Once he reached the inner sanctuary of his mind (which his Japanese tutors had helped him set up during the two years he'd spent in Japan), he took a moment to assess his mental defenses before he attempted to shift from his mindscape to the sealscape where the Kyuubi was located. Harry found himself standing just outside of the Chamber of Seals a heartbeat later.

Instead of just walking right in, Harry took a moment to study the heavy door to the chamber. Like the door it was modeled after, the door to the Chamber of Seals was large, round, and made from reinforced steel. Instead of a snake motif though, the door in the sealscape was decorated with an etching of the Deathly Hallows symbol superimposed over the silhouette of a fox head. The fox was inlaid with red jade shaped like licks of flames while the symbol of the Hallows was inlaid with obsidian and outlined with silver. The last thing Harry noticed was that the door was locked in the open position by a string of seals that he didn't recognize.

The wizard turned shinobi made a mental note to copy the memory of the seals so that he could create a physical copy of them in order to see if Jiraiya could offer any insight on what they were meant to do. He then stepped through the door and made his way to the raised dais in the middle of the room. He was more than a little surprised when he found the Kyuubi sitting exactly where he'd left her when he finally had a clear view of the chairs on the dais.

"So you have returned to gloat, have you?" Kurama demanded as she glared at him from her seat.

"Gloat? No, I am here because I promised to create a place for you to run and hunt," Harry countered as he calmly sat down and tried to figure out what it was that had the Kyuubi's tails in a knot (figuratively speaking). "May I inquire why you think I have any reason to gloat?"

"Do not try to play me for a fool, _wizard_; you know exactly what you have done," Kurama snarled as she jumped up onto the table that separated them; her actions prompting Harry to draw his mental representation of the Elder Wand.

"Actually, I don't."

The miniature Kyuubi growled and lunged at Harry in fury in response to his reply. Harry was prepared and the furious fox slammed into an invisible shield that Harry had silently cast the moment he'd seen her muscles bunching. He then conjured a dozen chains to bind the fox to the table. Kurama howled and snarled in fury the moment the chains wrapped around her and all nine of her tails. Harry knew the fact that he'd used chains to bind her was adding insult to injury; Kushina had used chakra chains to bind the Kyuubi on more than one occasion.

"Release me this instant you thieving fleshbag!" Kurama ordered as she continued to writhe in her chains.

"_I warned you that the Kyuubi was nothing but trouble,_" Minato intoned from where he'd been leaning against the entrance since right about the time Harry had sat down; the shade had once again been drawn along for the ride shortly after Harry had entered the sealscape.

"Chigau, your son is nothing but trouble; this here is a minor irritant that I will eradicate in five point two seconds if she doesn't calm down and shut her foul mouth."

"I am immortal! No mere mortal could destroy me! The moment you try, you will die and I will be free to destroy every thing you ever held dear!"

"I will give you one last chance to calm down and then I will strip every ounce of chakra from your soul, reduce you to the size of a mouse, lock you in jam jar, and permanently seal you inside of my tail bone for all eternity. And before you rant on about how my bones will one day turn to dust and free you; know that I have ways of preserving and reinforcing my bones to prevent them from decaying or being destroyed."

Silence immediately fell over the sealscape as the demonic fox snapped her mouth shut and ceased all attempts to escape the chains. Harry felt relieved that Kurama had taken his threat seriously but gave no outward indication of his emotions; it wouldn't due to allow the fox a chance to perceive him as weak because of his emotions, after all. While he waited for the Kyuubi to finish calming down, Harry conjured himself a cup of strong black tea to help calm his nerves and give his hands something to do in order to hide said nerves.

Once it appeared that the Kyuubi was no longer in a blind rage, Harry met her gaze and calmly asked, "Will you be able to keep control of yourself or shall I leave you in chains for the duration of my visit?"

"I don't care what you do; one more indignity heaped upon me by a wretched cheat would hardly matter," Kurama spat; her voice thick with resentment.

"Then I hope you're comfortable because I am in no mood to cater to your whims and if you are going to act like a prissy little princess throwing a temper tantrum of epic proportions, then I will treat you like the rapid dog you are and slap a muzzle on you to go with your chains. I may believe in equality between sentient species but I will not roll over and bare my throat to you, or any one else, for any reason. I can and will make your life a living hell if you ever attempt to attack me again. Got it?"

Kurama let out a half-hearted growl before she fell silent once more.

"Glad to see you can be properly trained. Now, what exactly was it that got your tails in a knot?"

The fox merely snarled silently at Harry instead of answering. The wizard sighed as he stood up and turned his back on the bijuu as he approached the right hand wall where the images of Kurama's life were hung. He'd let the damn fox stew for a bit while he set about creating the promised hunting grounds for her. He'd set several dozen clones to researching a way to recreate a mental version of the Room of Requirement but had not been able to find any hints or clues (not surprising since that knowledge had been lost long before Harry's great-great-grandfather had attended Hogwarts).

Instead, they'd come up with a combination of runes and enchantments that would allow him to recreate different types of environmental regions such as a desert, forest, cave, or beach. The only catch was that each region would have to be set up in a separate room.

In order to make certain there was enough room for the various environments, Harry had decided to recreate the 'pipe system' that led out of the Chamber of Secrets here in the Chamber of Seals. The first thing he did was shift the murals of Kurama's life up higher to make room for the 'pipes'. He then created half a dozen tunnels that were ten feet in diameter, twenty feet long, and evenly spaced out along the wall. Next, he affixed round doors that were modeled after the entrance door to each tunnel opening, added a doggy door to each door (for convenience), and labeled each door with the type of environment that would be created inside of the tunnel behind the door.

He then selected a tunnel at random and set about expanding the interior before he created a couple of dozen clones to help him apply the runes, spells, and enchantments needed to transform the oversized stone pipe into an appropriate outdoor environment. In this case, the tunnel was being transformed into a seemingly endless field of wild grasses that was designated simply as 'Grassland'. He'd chosen to create that environment first since he thought the Kyuubi would appreciate having a wide open space to run around in.

Once he had finished creating that first room, all that was missing from the artificial grassland were those animals and insects that lived in such an environment. Harry was not yet certain exactly how he was going to create those animals though; since they would need to be far more complex than the landscaping of the room. The animals would need to mimic their living counterparts, after all, and Harry didn't know enough about the behavioral patterns of the various species he planned to include to recreate realistic copies of them.

Dismissing his clones, Harry returned to the main chamber and quietly retook his seat on the dais as he studied the still fuming fox. Once he was comfortable and had a fresh cup of tea in hand, Harry pinned the Kyuubi with a stern gaze as he addressed her once more, "Are you going to answer my earlier question now or shall I leave you chained to the table until the next time I return to the Chamber of Seals for a visit?"

"You are just as cowardly and treacherous as the Uchiha and their cursed eyes," Kurama growled in a near hiss.

"Explain or I will rip the knowledge from your mind myself because I am growing weary of your attitude."

"There is nothing to explain for your threats have only confirmed that you are just like every other human out there; you crave the power of others for yourself and what is not freely given to you, you take by force and trickery."

"What a surprisingly human sentiment," Harry drawled in a dismissive tone as he tried to determine whether or not the fox was making her first attempt at manipulating him. "I did not think one such as yourself would cling to the human ideal of fairness or fair play. And you are wrong; I have never craved power for myself."

"Liar."

"No, I may stretch the truth from time to time but I do not tell lies; there is no need for me to lie."

"In that case, give me back my chakra!"

"I did not steal your chakra; it's sitting right where you left it," Harry pointed out with a frown as he glanced towards the towering cage that still held a transparent copy of the Kyuubi's true form.

"You and your cursed tricks locked me out!"

"No, I did not."

"_Actually, you might have done just that, cousin,_" Minato interjected from the doorway. "_The seal was designed to hold the Kyuubi in place and the alteration you made to the seal in order to allow the fox to leave the physical representation of the seal, which was the cage, may well have made the changes you forced upon the Kyuubi permanent. After all, the seal was not designed to be a revolving door._"

"Huh," Harry blurted out in surprise; that was certainly not what he'd intended.

"Release me and give me back my chakra, worm!" Kurama ordered as she wriggled in her chains.

"No, I don't think I will," Harry countered as he focused his attention on the Kyuubi once more. "You have no need of that power while you are here in the sealscape and I have no intention of ever letting you out of the seal entirely. I may not have intended to permanently separate you from your chakra but what is done is done. And before you curse and wail about trickery; you'd do well to remember that you willingly left your cage and your chakra."

Harry rose to his feet and made his way to the exit at that point; he'd spent more than enough time in the demon's presence and he needed to discuss this latest twist with someone who has a far better grasp on the principles behind the Containment Seal. He also needed to call on Mito or Kushina's spirit to get a better idea of what kind of consequences he could expect to face due to the way he'd inadvertently stripped the fox of her chakra.

Once he reached the doorway, Harry stopped and glanced back at the Kyuubi as he stated, "I will let your attempt to attack me slide this time since your anger was justifiable under the circumstances; however, if you should ever try to attack me again, I will carry through on every single one of my threats."

He then flicked his wand at the table to vanish the chains restraining the Kyuubi before he stepped through the open door and returned his consciousness to his mindscape. Harry took a moment to center his emotions and thoughts before he exited the meditative state he'd put himself in to access both his mind and the sealscape. He opened his eyes a heartbeat later and stared up at the ceiling of the underground medical facility as he felt the first tendrils of a migraine forming.

"Well, how did it go?" Jiraiya inquired from where he had been leaning against the gurney during the process.

"Not well; I apparently caught the Kyuubi at the wrong time of the month," Harry replied as he gingerly sat up in order to avoid aggravating the headache he now had. "Maybe I should have offered her chocolate?" Tsunade walked up and slapped the back of his head in irritation over his sexist comment. "Damn it, woman; don't do that!"

"Don't take that tone with me, mister, or I will put you in traction for a month," Tsunade barked as she coated her hands in healing chakra and began a cursory diagnostic scan to determine if his recent trip into the sealscape had a negative impact on his body or chakra network. "You've been spending far too much time with Shikaku if you've picked up his habit of addressing women as 'woman' to their face."

"Chigau, I picked up that particular habit from my best friend while we were still in our early teens."

"Was the Kyuubi's attitude significantly different this time when compared to the first time you met with the bijuu face to face?" Yamato asked from his position near the door.

"Yeah, she was in a right pissy mood this time; she attempted to attack me shortly after I entered the seal. Apparently, I made a tiny miscalculation when I set up the security measures I mentioned earlier. Instead of creating a way for me to limit the amount of power she has access to, I removed her power completely and locked it away out of her reach. She was not happy about that."

"So you really did have her spayed?" Jiraiya asked with some surprise.

"It would seem so but I have no idea what that means for me aside from the fact that I might need to invest in a muzzle if she makes further attempts to chew my face off. It also makes me worry about the level of hostility that Naruto will have to face when he finally comes into contact with his half of the Kyuubi."

"Do you still plan to make additional attempts to speak with the demon?" Ibiki inquired with a touch of concern.

"Yes, there is no point in avoiding her since she isn't going anywhere."

"How long are you going to wait before you meet with her again?"

"Not for another month or two; there are a number of things I need to research before I go back into the seal and I need to speak with Mito-sama, Kushina-san, or another former Jinchuuriki in order to learn what kind of repercussions I can expect from separating the Kyuubi from her chakra."

"Send me a note when you are about ready to make another visit and I will return to the village to keep an eye on things again," Jiraiya instructed in a serious tone as gestured for Harry to channel chakra into the seal so that he could as recheck the stability of the seal once more now that Tsunade had finished scanning him. "Tsunade-hime, were there any further changes to his chakra coils?"

"No, I've picked up nothing new."

"And there is still no change in the seal," Jiraiya added a moment later. "You can go ahead and stop channeling your chakra now, Takeshi."

"Was there anything else you needed from me or can I get dressed now?"

"We're done with you, for now. I do expect to see you as scheduled this Friday though; so I can log any further changes in the fluctuations of the Kyuubi's chakra and the state of your chakra coils," Tsunade stated in reply to Harry's question.

"Do you have any plans for the evening?" Ibiki inquired before Harry could confirm his weekly appointment with the kunoichi.

"Not really; why?"

"I wish to sit down and discuss your two meetings with the Kyuubi so that I can document everything that you learned and analyze your interactions with the fox. I also wish to hear more about your game plan for any future visits you will be paying to the Kyuubi and what you expect to learn and accomplish through such visits."

"Joy," Harry muttered as he removed the final electrode and pulled on his shirt. "I guess I can spare a couple of hours after supper. Where would you like me to meet you?"

"My office; and bring your predecessors with you. I would like to hear their opinions on the stunt you pulled on the fox."

"Wakatta."

* * *

**Translations:** Japanese to English

Chigau – can be used to mean wrong, no, or to differ  
Gaki – brat  
Hai – yes  
Wakatta – I understand/understood

**Techniques/Skills:**

Hakke no Fuuin Shiki – Eight Divination Signs Seal Style  
Shishou Fuuin – Four Image Seal

* * *

**AN:** _I was going to comment on this chapter but I find my head stuffed with cotton at the moment; **some**one got me sick again. I spent all day in bed and only got up since I promised to post this chapter for everyone. So, I didn't even get any writing done today. In any case, I'm going back to bed. I don't know when the next chapter will be up (depends on how long it takes me to kick my flu thing to the curb). I am also unhappy with the next chapter and may cut it out entirely and then post part of it as an omake after the Epilogue. Either way, I'll have a chapter up later this week once I no longer feel like crud. ~ Jenn  
_


	35. A Simple Misunderstanding

**Disclaimer:** _All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies and all Naruto characters are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites._

**Warnings:** _AU for parts of both worlds (i.e. kiss canon goodbye), mild character bashing, mild to moderate violence (there are shinobi involved after all), and a few others that will be announced as they crop up. _

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

**Chapter 35: A Simple Misunderstanding**

_Thursday, September 04, 2003, Early Morning  
Konohagakure no Sato, Hi no Kuni_

Naruto slid out of bed with a loud yawn and noisily stretched as he stumbled towards his closet to grab a clean uniform to wear. He then blindly made his way to his private bathroom to take a shower. As he turned on the hot water faucet, Naruto silently thanked every deity he could think of for the existence of magic and fuuinjutsu as a burst of steam immediately warmed up the shower stall. During the renovation of his old apartment complex, Takeshi had spent hours carving all kinds of runes and seals over everything to protect their new home and provide certain amenities.

Such as hot water from the tap the moment the tap was turned on (no more waiting for a faulty water heater to heat the water), lightly warmed floors (no more freezing your feet when you get out of bed), and an assortment of special runes that allowed him to keep his window open all year round without having to worry about pests, the weather, or intruders.

That was on top of the fact that the living quarters had been designed in such a way that each one of them had a private suite of rooms that included a roomy bedroom, walk in closet, small study, balcony, and private bathroom. Even the guest suites had been set up with the same floor plan; some of them with a second bedroom attached for those guests with children. Takeshi's room was the only exception and that was only because he had a large office on the main floor of the living quarters and therefore hadn't needed or wanted a private study attached to his room.

As Naruto stepped beneath the shower head, his thoughts turned from the awesomeness of their home to the short C Ranked mission that Kakashi-sensei had picked up for their team the previous evening. The mission was to deliver a bunch of legal documents to a Konoha research facility outside of the village. Kakashi-sensei had estimated that it would take them around a day and a half to reach the facility, an hour to hand over the document (and exchange gossip), and another day and a half to get back to Konoha. So, an estimated three day trip.

All three Genin were really looking forward to getting out of the village again. Naruto because he had grown to love traveling during the time he'd spent in the Outer Countries and Housei and Midori because they had never spent any time outside of the village until after they'd been assigned to Team Kakashi. Taking another C Ranked mission also meant they'd have at least another three days guaranteed free of those annoying and thankless chores disguised as D Ranked missions.

Excitement flooded Naruto as he hurriedly rinsed himself off, shut off the shower, dried himself off, and hurriedly dressed in his uniform. He then hurried out of the bathroom, grabbed his utility pouch and pack, and made his way to Housei's room in order to wake the older boy up. Once his teammate was moving, he headed to the kitchen to grab breakfast where he would find Midori already seated at the table eating. He'd barely sat down at the table to join her when a muted wave of suppressed moodiness hit the blond.

The source of the muted negative emotions was quite obvious to Naruto due to how attuned he'd grown to his favorite cousin's moods. That and Takeshi had been in a rather grumpy mood for several days now; though the green eyed man took pains to hide it from the rest of the family. Takeshi could never hide his emotions from Naruto completely though; that was especially true when it came to his negative emotions.

Naruto had no idea who or what had put his cousin in such a foul mood though. All he knew was that Takeshi was angry, frustrated, depressed, regretful, and resigned; a mix of emotions that made absolutely no sense to Naruto. If Naruto knew who it was that had put the wizard in such a grumpy mood, he'd have pranked them until they begged for mercy.

Takeshi's emotions became muted a moment later when he stepped into the kitchen and absently greeted, "Ohayou."

"Ohayou, Keshi-nii!" all three Genin called in return and Naruto felt pleased when he sensed his cousin's emotions take a small upswing in response to their warm greeting as he shot the trio a fond smile.

"Are the three of you ready for your mission?" Takeshi inquired as he dug a couple of peaches out of the fruit basket and snagged a couple of bacon slices from the platter on the table.

"Yes!" all three Genin once again crowed out in unison.

"Good to hear, I prepared each of you a small storage scroll of meals that I left by the front door; make sure you don't forget them on your way out."

"Thanks, Keshi-nii; you're the best, dattebayo."

"You're welcome, squirt," Takeshi replied as he ruffled Naruto's hair on the way out of the kitchen. "Good luck on your mission and make sure the three of you watch each other's backs; I will see you when you get back."

"Bye niisan!" all three children called out as Takeshi left the kitchen.

Naruto cringed two seconds later when he felt Takeshi's negative emotions return the moment he was out of sight. He then scowled at his half eaten breakfast as he tried to figure out who it was that had upset his itoko. Whoever it was, they were going to pay and pay dearly for whatever it was they had done to put Takeshi in such a foul mood for so long. Naruto almost wished they weren't leaving the village on a mission that morning because it meant he wouldn't have any time to do any digging to find out why Takeshi was so grumpy lately.

"Oi, earth to Naruto; we've got a mission, you can space out and brood when we get back," Midori teased as she flicked him on the ear.

"What has you so down anyway?" Housei inquired before he shoved one last piece of bacon in his mouth.

"Takeshi-nii has been moody for days now and I haven't yet figured out who I need to prank for it," Naruto replied as he rolled some eggs and bacon into a pair of thin rice tortillas so he could finish his breakfast on the move.

"Didn't he have some big hush-hush meeting with the Hokage the other day?" Midori asked as she dumped her dirty dishes in the sink, stuffed a couple of apples into her utility pouch, and headed for the front door.

"Yeah, but he was grumpy before he even went to that meeting."

"He could have just been grumpy about going to the meeting. Maybe he was given some super hard task to do and he hasn't been able to get it done yet because it was harder than excepted or something like that," Housei suggested as he snagged something to snack on as well before he followed Midori to the front of the apartment.

"Maybe but he doesn't usually get grumpy over work. He only ever gets moody and grumpy when someone does something mean or stupid," Naruto countered as he trotted over the two teens. "It was probably that Mitarashi woman again; she's always making Takeshi grumpy."

"You're going to prank her again, aren't you?" Midori demanded as she slipped on her sandals and snagged the storage scrolls of food that Takeshi had prepared for them before she opened the door.

"Yep, I've got three days to come up with a proper new prank," Naruto agreed with a laugh as he finished putting on his shoes and slipped out the windows instead of using the door (a clear testament of the influence that Kakashi had had on his life and training).

"Well, at least you're not having us collect slugs from under rocks again this time," Housei quipped as he closed the door behind him. "Although, the look of horror on Mitarashi's face when she ate one of the slug-filled dango we had spiked her order with was pure gold."

"That was so gross," Midori countered with a grimace of disgust as her face turned a little green.

Naruto just snickered as the three of them took to the rooftops to save time. In his mind, Mitarashi Anko had earned and deserved each and every prank Naruto had played on her over the past two and a half years. His thoughts then turned to their upcoming mission once more as they approached the gate. There would be more than enough time to plan his next prank when they made camp later that night; for now, he had be alert and focused on the mission since they would need to keep an eye out for bandits or enemy shinobi the moment they stepped outside of the village.

Even though their mission was rather simple and relatively easy when compared to some of the lower ranked missions they'd been on, he'd been taught not to let his guard down no matter what because there was always a chance that something could go wrong.

Takeshi's recent mission to Nami no Kuni was proof enough of that.

So was that C Rank they'd taken to Kubisaki Castle.

* * *

_Monday, September 08, 2003, Morning  
Konohagakure no Sato, Hi no Kuni_

Yuugao mentally heaved a sigh of relief as the walls of Konoha rose up out of the forest in front of her. She'd been gone for far too long as far as she was concerned. She was still rather irritated with her captain for the unexpected mission that had pulled her away from Takeshi's side just when she'd finally gotten confirmation that he was definitely interested in her. In fact, her captain had rudely waylaid her on her way to Training Ground Sixteen to meet up with Takeshi for the spar he'd all but promised her (and the perfect opportunity to talk about their mutual attraction) and then he hadn't even given her any time to tell Takeshi that she'd been called away on an urgent mission.

She only hoped Takeshi wasn't angry over her ditching him without any warning. Or worse, that it had driven him off for good because it didn't take a genius to see that the man was rather skittish when it came to the fairer sex. That was especially true when it came to any girl that showed even a modicum of interest in pursuing a relationship with the green eyed Chuunin. There were actually very few women that Takeshi was relaxed around; Eri, Tsunade, Shizune, and herself were the only ones that she could name off the top of her head if she didn't count the children.

Yuugao felt privileged to know that she was one of them and that she was (as far as she knew) the only kunoichi that Takeshi ever sparred against or trained alongside since he'd arrived in the village.

Pushing her questionable love life out of her mind, Yuugao focused on the here and now as her team passed through the gates and headed for the AnBu Facility hidden up behind the Hokage Monument overlooking the village. She would have plenty of time to deal with Takeshi and their mutual attraction after her team had given their report to Kasai. Or at least she would so long as Takeshi didn't avoid her like the plague thanks to her unavoidable and unplanned vanishing act.

An hour and a half plus a quick shower and a change of clothes later, found Yuugao hurrying towards the Namikaze Wheelhouse by way of rooftop. A warm curl of anticipation sprang to life in her belly at the thought of finally getting a chance to pick up where she'd left off with Takeshi. The memory of their first kiss was enough to make her feel uncomfortably warm as a wave of desire rushed through her. His response to her bold move had been encouraging and rather thrilling because of how unexpected it had been; she'd actually expected him to freeze up and pull away from her the moment she had pressed her lips to his.

She knew from talks with Eri, that Takeshi had had two girlfriends when he'd been younger and that he'd been on the verge of proposing to one of them; though she had no idea why either relationship had ended – Eri had told her that those were Takeshi's stories to tell. All she'd really learned from those talks was that Takeshi liked athletic girls, that he had some experience with kissing and possibly light petting, and that he had not dated since he'd broke things off with his almost fiancée. She also knew that he was a virgin.

Actually, she was pretty certain that the entire shinobi force knew that the green-eyed Chuunin was a virgin since he'd openly spoken about his refusal to bed any of the vapid fan-girls that had propositioned him on more than one occasion.

His virginity was something that actually made him rather appealing to a good number of unattached women and girls. A number of them saw his abstinence as rather romantic (choosing to believe that it meant that he was saving himself for a special someone) and the rest saw it as a challenge. Unfortunately, that also meant that there were a number of women trying to catch his attention; a good number of them just looking to bed the Head of the Namikaze Clan in order to claim his virginity and put another notch on their bedposts. Others were looking to marry the man in the hopes of acquiring a portion of the Namikaze wealth for themselves.

So far, Takeshi had ignored all attempts made by any woman to entice him into their bed and easily resisted the charms of those ladies hoping to marry into the prestigious clan.

Yuugao cleared her mind of what she considered useless clutter (her ruminations on the behavior of the other women that were vying for Takeshi's attention) as she finally reached her destination. She dropped down onto the stairs leading up to the Namikaze apartments above their restaurant a heartbeat later and took a moment to school her emotions (and confirm that she looked presentable) before she knocked on the door. There was a brief flurry of near running footsteps approaching from the other side of the door before the door was opened by a bewhiskered blond.

"Ohayou gozaimasu, Naruto-kun."

"Ohayou, Yuugao-chan," Naruto greeted with a beaming smile. "Are you here to visit with Eri-neechan?"

"Actually, I'm looking for Takeshi; is he home?" Yuugao corrected as she returned the boisterous pre-teen's infectious smile.

"No, he left about two hours ago," Naruto replied with a brief head shake.

"Do you know where I can find him? Or when he'll be back?"

"He should be at the Ranch; he just started training the two year olds and some of the older yearlings. He usually comes back for lunch before he meets up with his team to train."

"Arigatou…"

"Naruto, who's at the door?" Eri's voice inquired as a second, softer set of footsteps approached the entrance.

"It's Yuugao-chan; she was looking for oniisan."

"Ah, why don't you go see if the boys are finished with their math assignments?" Eri suggested as she gave Naruto a gentle push down the hall as she took his place at the door. The normally friendly woman watched the blond disappear before she turned back to half frown and half scowl at Yuugao as she asked, "Why are you looking for Takeshi?"

"I need to talk to him…" Yuugao began, only for Eri to cut her off.

"Don't you think you should have done that over a week ago instead of avoiding him all of this time?"

"I haven't been avoiding Takeshi; I was called out of the village on an urgent mission and didn't even have time to say goodbye before I had to leave. Why would you think that I was avoiding him?"

Eri pursed her lips and eyed Yuugao for a moment before she slowly replied, "For the first four days after he returned from his last mission, he constantly asked me whether or not you had stopped by looking for him each time he walked in through the door. After the fourth day, he just stopped asking. He's been moody ever since and the one time I asked him if he'd seen you, he growled at me and stalked off without answering. What exactly happened between the two of you that he was so desperate to see you?"

"I kissed him after Satoshi-kun spilled the beans about his apparent crush on me the day he returned from Nami and I had been unable to meet up with him the next afternoon as agreed because my teichou pulled me away for our mission."

"And he would have automatically assumed that you regretted kissing him because you didn't show up and he couldn't find you. You're lucky that Naruto never realized you were in any way connected to Takeshi's moodiness or you'd have found yourself being pranked for who knew how long the moment you returned," Eri sighed as all traces of her anger disappeared. "Did you wish to come in and wait for Takeshi?"

"Iie, Naruto-kun told me that Takeshi has been spending his mornings at the Ranch; I'll try and catch him there."

"Don't let the inevitable cold shoulder that he will give you when he first sees you stop you from telling him why you didn't come to see him sooner. He will choose to be angry with you at first to hide the hurt he is feeling but he should give you a chance to explain so long as you don't let him push you away."

"Thank you for the advice, Eri," Yuugao murmured as she nodded to the shorter woman before she took to the rooftops once more to make her way to the Namikaze Ranch.

As she approached the sprawling ranch where Takeshi housed the majority of the Namikaze herd, Yuugao slowed down and dropped down to the ground to avoid activating the complex barriers she knew surrounded the place. She also began rehearsing what she was going to say in order to convince Takeshi that she had not been avoiding him and that she in no way regretted the kiss they had shared. There were more than a few curses interspersed with her mental rehearsal as she fully blamed her teichou for the current situation.

If the man had just given her two minutes to say goodbye, then Takeshi wouldn't have automatically assumed the worst when he couldn't find her. It was times like this that she wished that Inu or rather Hatake Kakashi was still her teichou; Kakashi would have been more than happy to give her time to say goodbye. Unfortunately, Kakashi had resigned from the AnBu Corps the moment he'd been notified that one Namikaze Naruto had earned his hitai-ate. Yuugao hadn't really been surprised when she'd heard the news; she knew Kakashi had been very close to Minato.

His replacement, Herajika-teichou, was a competent enough shinobi but his personality left much to be desired. He also tended to be rather short with her since she'd spurned his advances eighteen months ago. So, his reasons for not giving her time to say goodbye had probably stemmed from jealousy; the man had walked in on her when she had been talking to Hayate about her growing attraction to Takeshi. It would not surprise her if the man turned out to be that petty.

Yuugao made a mental note to have Naruto prank the snot out of her captain for her as she reached the large gate leading into the Namikaze Ranch. She slowed to a stop as Takeshi appeared in front of her in a swirl of leaves; he'd obviously sensed her passing through the barrier. It took all of Yuugao's self control not to flinch when Takeshi's eyes filled with a brief flash of pain before they turned cold the moment they landed on her; his face closing itself off as an emotionless mask slid into place. Seeing that look on his face and knowing it was directed at her hurt far more than she had expected it to.

"Was there something you needed, Uzuki-san?"

The cold tone combined with the use of her surname cut even deeper and if not for Eri's last minute advice, Yuugao probably would have just slunk away to nurse her wounds (metaphorically speaking). As it was, Yuugao straightened her shoulders and stubbornly lifted her chin as she coolly replied, "We need to talk."

"No, we needed to talk ten days ago but you made it perfectly clear that you wanted nothing further to do with me when you studiously avoided me over the past week and a half. I am sorry that you wasted your time coming all the way out here now because I no longer have anything to say to you."

"That's fine; you can listen while I talk and if you still have nothing to say once I am finished, then I will leave," Yuugao declared firmly as she held Takeshi's gaze. "The first thing you need to know is that I have not been avoiding you; I was sent on a high priority mission on the afternoon we were supposed to meet and did not have time to say goodbye before I had to leave. I've barely been back in the village for two hours now and the only reason I did not track you down sooner was because our team had to hand in our mission report."

Takeshi's stony mask slipped a bit as he searched her eyes intently for several minutes in complete silence; a small frown pulling the corners of his mouth down. Yuugao resolutely held his gaze in order to convey the truth of her words and for a moment it felt like his gaze could sees straight into her soul. She knew the moment he'd accepted her explanation as truth; the tension bleeding from his frame even as his eyes thawed completely.

"Sumimasen, Uzuki-san; I should not have assumed the worst of you just because I could not find you in any of your usual haunts."

"No apology is necessary, Takeshi," Yuugao countered as she relaxed her stance in turn. "I can't fault you for jumping to the same conclusions that I probably would have jumped to had our positions been reversed. And you don't have to address me so formally… we are still friends, after all; at least I hope we are. Of course, I also wouldn't be opposed to being more than friends."

Yuugao was filled with a combination of amusement and trepidation when Takeshi tensed up and began frowning once more. She was just starting to worry that she might have been too bold in declaring her interest in being more than just a friend to the green eyed Chuunin when he finally broke the silence.

"Nande…?"

"You have to be a little more specific than that, Takeshi," Yuugao pointed out as she settled on being amused.

"Why would you want to be more than friends? What could you possibly want with me when you're so… so you and could have any guy you wanted. I'm not blind; I've seen the way a good number of the shinobi behave around you. For that matter, why did you kiss me?"

"Do you really think so little of yourself that you find it so hard to believe that a woman could be interested in you?"

"No, I'm just fully aware of the reasons why ninety percent of the women interested in me are actually interested in me and I have no intention of being another fan-girl's conquest. You, on the other hand, are different. And I can't for the life of me see what an intelligent, beautiful, and highly skilled kunoichi could want with me."

"If you were any other man I would swear you were just fishing for compliments to feed your ego," Yuugao replied with a soft snort of amusement. "I know you better than that though. To answer your question, there are many things about you that would draw any women, and not just the little fan-girls, to you. For starters, you are a rather handsome and physically fit man with striking features; the unique color and intensity of your eyes are breathtaking. On top of being attractive, there is a presence about you that draws the eye. You carry yourself with confidence but without arrogance and it makes people sit up and take notice of you."

"Then there is the fact that you treat everyone with respect until they do something stupid to earn your disdain. You also don't treat or see women as inferior or weak. You are good with children and it is obvious that your little cousin and son think you hung the moon and stars. Your parenting skills are phenomenal; even if they are a bit unorthodox. Naruto and Satoshi are both well behaved though, even if they do tend to frequently prank people. And that's not even covering your obvious intelligence, your strong morals, your family values, your twisted sense of humor, and your skills. So, tell me; why wouldn't I be interested in dating you?"

"I'm moody. I have a nasty temper. I tend to jump to conclusions. I am disrespectful to people who annoy me. I have a hard time trusting others so it is not easy for me to make friends or open up to the friends that I have made. I am reckless and tend to rush into things before I think. I am very stubborn. I tend to hold grudges against those that slight my family. I attract trouble just by existing. And I have a horrible track record with relationships."

"So you have a few quirks and flaws; how does any of that make you different from any other person?" Yuugao inquired as a small smile played about her lips.

Takeshi opened his mouth to retort before he closed it again as a brief look of confused amusement crossed his face. He then let out a quiet snort and dipped his head in acknowledgement as he quietly stated, "I suppose I can't argue with you on that point."

"Good. Does that mean that we can go someplace to talk about the kiss we shared?"

"I suppose I could say no but that would just make me look like an ass of epic proportions," Takeshi quipped as he ran a hand through his messy hair. "Was there some place in particular you had in mind for our discussion?"

"No, not really but it would be nice to have this conversation in a place where we will be both comfortable and have a little privacy."

"Privacy…? Should I fear for my virtue, Uzuki-san?"

Yuugao felt a shiver race down her spine over the way Takeshi's voice caressed her last name as he spoke it even as a satisfied grin pulled the corners of her mouth up over the fact that he felt secure enough to flirt with her so soon after the small misunderstanding her leaving had caused. She then licked her lips in anticipation as she let her eyes slide down the length of his lean frame and recalled how wonderful it had felt to press herself up against his body. Her grin only grew wider when she glanced back up and caught sight of the flush coloring the Chuunin's cheeks and neck.

"No, there is no reason for you to fear for your virtue; I will take very good care of it."

Takeshi's eyes widened in surprise for a moment before the flush on his face darkened even further as soon as the meaning behind her words registered. Yuugao gave a throaty laugh in response to his reaction to her blatant insinuation before she moved to separate the distance between them. As she reached his side, Takeshi gulped nervously; though she was pleased to note that he was stubbornly held his ground.

"So, would you feel more comfortable if we went back to your place for our talk or should we head over to my apartment instead?" Yuugao inquired mischievously.

"We'd have absolutely no privacy at my place because of all the kids that would be underfoot there," Takeshi pointed out in a slightly strained voice.

"I guess that means we'll be going to my place then, ne?"

"I'm not sure that is a good idea either…" Takeshi replied as he shook his head before he muttered, "Too many damned perverts with loose tongues running free through the village."

"Where would you suggest we go then?" Yuugao asked with a mixture of amusement and exasperation.

Takeshi pursed his lips in thought as he pulled his eyes from her and stared at the ground for a moment. He then bit his lip in uncertainty as he glanced back up at her and Yuugao was unexpectedly struck by the vulnerability she could see in his eyes. Seeing him so insecure, made her wonder who had cut him so deeply that the mere idea of dating again could inspire such fear in a man who had not hesitated to take the Hokage to task over his cousin's former mistreatment at the hands of the villagers. The brief glimpse into Takeshi's soul vanished a heartbeat later and Yuugao felt an urge to maim the person responsible for hurting the man she'd fallen in love with.

"I could open up the family retreat," Takeshi hesitantly offered at that point. "It's bound to be a bit dusty because we rarely ever use it with how busy we always are but it's close by and you'd be hard pressed to find a more secure place for a private conversation. It's also rather isolated…"

"Sounds perfect," Yuugao agreed when Takeshi trailed off a bit uncomfortably.

"Okay," Takeshi replied with a tentative nod before he gestured towards the road that wrapped around the Namikaze Ranch and added, "it's this way."

* * *

**Translations:** Japanese to English

Demo – but  
Hai – yes  
Herajika – moose  
Iie – no  
Nande – why  
Obasan – aunt  
Ojisan/jisan – uncle  
Otousan/tousan – father  
Sumimasen – I'm sorry (formal)

* * *

**AN:** _I had hoped to have this up sooner but kicking my cold/flu thing to the curb took most of the week and then I really didn't feel like working on anything. That's also why you didn't get to read about Ibiki's meeting w/ Harry, Kushina, &amp; Mito regarding the Kyuubi. I ended up cutting that chapter out because I was so unhappy with it and my muses just weren't cooperating - I think they were still doped up on NyQuil. _

_Anyway, never fear, the extracted bits will make a reappearance after the epilogue as an omake. In the mean time, there's only one or two more chapters in this arc before the Chuunin Exam Arc and most it will be moving Harry's relationship w/ Yuugao forward. There'll be a bit of other drama in there as well. _

_Anywho, I'll have the next chapter up tomorrow. For those of you who sent me PMs over the past seven days, I'll be answering those tomorrow as well since I was not up to even reading them while I was sick. And for now, I'm going to go snag me another bowl of nacho soup and curl up under an electric lab throw and kick my muses back into gear so I can get back to writing. Or at least doing something other than staring blankly at the monitor while my nose runs. ~ Jenn_


	36. A Kunoichi's Persistence

**Disclaimer:** _All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies and all Naruto characters are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites._

**Warnings:** _AU for parts of both worlds (i.e. kiss canon goodbye), mild character bashing, mild to moderate violence (there are shinobi involved after all), and a few others that will be announced as they crop up. _

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

**Chapter 36: A Kunoichi's Persistence**

_Monday, September 08, 2003, Late Morning  
Konohagakure no Sato, Hi no Kuni_

Harry tried to ignore the butterflies that had taken up residence in his stomach the moment Yuugao had come right out and said that she was interested in being more than friends as he led his crush to his family's private retreat. He wasn't quite certain why he even offered to take her there so they could talk when it would have been far safer (if not anywhere near as private) to take her back to the family apartment above the restaurant. He knew that one reason was because he hadn't wanted to give Arata and Eri any more reasons to speculate on his relationship with the vivacious kunoichi beside him least it open him to all kinds of teasing from the couple.

Another reason why he had opted against taking her back to his home was because he felt he owed it to her to give her his undivided attention after all of the uncharitable thoughts he'd been thinking about her because he had thought that she was avoiding him. There was also a part of him that hoped Yuugao would kiss him again. That first kiss they had shared had sparked a hundred fantasies and invoked feelings in him that he had not felt since the month and a half that he'd been together with Ginny during his sixth year at Hogwarts; feelings that had been noticeably absent after he'd gotten back together with Ginny once the war had ended.

They were also feelings that he had at one point feared he could never feel again. And part of him had felt guilty that it was Yuugao that had stirred those feelings in him and not Ginny. It wasn't that he still loved Ginny, he didn't. He wasn't even entirely sure that he had truly loved her rather than the idea she had represented to his younger self; the idea that he was worthy of being loved. That he could be loved. And learning that Ginny had only loved what he represented had cut him deeply.

It was only his anger over her cruel and crass comments about his cousin and godson that had stopped him from breaking down that night. Well, his anger and the presence of his cousin at the time. He'd buried the pain she had caused him deeply as he threw himself into Naruto's life and made plans for their move to Konoha. His growing crush on Yuugao had stirred the memories of that pain once or twice but never enough to fully trigger his insecurities. It hadn't been until after Yuugao had seemingly ditched him the day after she had kissed him that the old pain he'd kept bottled up burst forth.

He had been torn between fear that there was something wrong with him that he always drove the girls he fell in love with away from him and anger at Yuugao for toying with his feelings. He had briefly wondered if maybe she'd been ordered to seduce him by the Hokage before he discarded that notion entirely; there had been a glaring lack of seduction going on despite there having been ample opportunities over the past two years. There was also no reason that he could think of for the Hokage to order one of his kunoichi to seduce him; it wasn't like the aged shinobi needed to resort to such underhand methods to gain information from Harry when Harry had been grudgingly volunteering information each time he was asked.

Harry pushed aside his ruminations as they reached the wrought iron gate leading into the Namikaze Retreat. He pulled out a kunai at that point and deftly sliced his palm open before cleaning off the knife and putting it away. He allowed the blood to pool in his hand for a moment before he smeared a streak across the runic seals that controlled the wards. Harry felt the magic in the wards hum briefly as his blood was absorbed before the enchantments that protected the retreat when no one was using it went dormant.

The nice thing about having the runic ward scheme controlling the wards was that there was no need to use magic each time they needed to be activated or deactivated – which allowed the rest of the family to use the retreat without any need for Harry to be there to open the place up or close it down for them. The only drawback to using the runic ward scheme was that it required blood to lock and unlock them. It was also the need for blood that made it impossible for anyone other than a Namikaze to bypass or control the wards; Harry had keyed each member of their family into the scheme for just that purpose – even little Aika.

As soon as the wards were deactivated, a loud click sounded as the gate unlocked itself and swung inward to reveal a small estate that sat on exactly one square acre of land. Situated smack dab in the middle of the lot between two short white picket fences was a sprawling ranch house with a large porch that ran from corner to corner. Directly in front of the house, was a large pond that spanned the entire width of the property though it was only about ten feet across. There was a single cobblestone bridge centered over the middle of the pond. Running along the far edge of the pond were an assortment of willow and wisteria trees that provided shade for the pond and homes for the various birds that lived on the estate.

The stretch of land that fell between the pond and the gate was split in half by the cobblestone pathway leading straight to the bridge and both sides were filled with meandering pathways of stepping stones bordered by a wide assortment of flowering shrubs, bushes, and plants with the occasional flowering tree thrown in. Scattered amidst the greenery were a pair of fountains (one on either side of the main path), several marble statues of deer, dogs, and wolves in various poses, and a few scattered teak and brass benches that each sat beneath trellises of flowering vines.

On the far side of the pond, the cobblestone pathway widened into a cobblestone courtyard that was bordered on both sides by several juniper hedges that had been trimmed that they resembled a castle's battlements. The rest of the grounds between the house and pond were carpeted with a short cropped green lawn of hardy grasses. The flowerbeds that sat just below the porch were filled with a dozen different species of lily in a wide range of colors and sizes. Sitting on either side of the wide staircase that led up to the porch, a pair of climbing roses had been planted and their vines had been encouraged to weave themselves around and through the bars of the stair rails as they had grown.

As the two of them stepped through the gate, Harry discreetly watched Yuugao's face as she laid eyes on the sprawling garden that was the front yard of the Namikaze Retreat for the first time. He couldn't help but smile when he saw the look of pleased wonder fill her face as she took in the view.

"It's so beautiful," Yuugao breathed as she moved further down the walkway. "Why don't you live here instead of in an apartment above the restaurant?"

"Living here would have meant allowing others to access this place on a regular basis and I did not wish to share this peace of paradise with the general public."

"I can see why you'd feel that way; stepping through the gate was like stepping into a whole new world."

Harry hummed in agreement; every single last plant or tree growing on the property had been imported straight from England via house elf express or carried with them across the continent when they first arrived. The same could not be said of the wildlife that lived on the estate; the water fowl, fish, and amphibians that made their home in the pond all native to Hi no Kuni. The only exceptions were the boomslangs that lived in the greenhouse jungle that had been built in the very center of the house and the large family of kneazles, half-kneazles, and cats that lived under the porch.

"Come on, we can talk in the kitchen while I make us something for lunch," Harry suggested after giving Yuugao a few more minutes to take in the gardens.

The two of them made their way along the cobblestone path towards the bridge where they paused for a moment as Yuugao peered over the wrought iron and stone rails to watch a school of koi swimming beneath the water lilies that had been scattered throughout the pond. They reached the stairs a few minutes later and Harry fished his kunai back out as he bounded up the steps two at a time. He then sliced open his palm a second time in order to unseal the house. The door swung inwards just as Yuugao finally caught up to him once more.

Harry stepped into the small foyer and held the door open for Yuugao before he closed the door and exchanged his dragon hide boots for a pair of house shoes that were kept beside the door. He then pull off his dragon hide cloak and hung it up on the coat hooks that lined the wall beside the door above the collection of extra house shoes out of habit. He waited for Yuugao to change out of her shoes before he led her through the archway on the left hand side of the foyer into a cozy sitting room done up in a mix of Gryffindor and Hufflepuff colors. They soon passed through the door that was opposite of the archway that led into a formal dining room with a large table, a dozen chairs, a china hutch (filled with fine china, silverware, and crystal glassware), and a buffet table all made from mahogany.

Continuing on through that room in the same direction that they'd been traveling, the two of them next arrived in a large kitchen that was as long as both the dining room and sitting room put together. The third of the room closest to the dining room contained a small breakfast nook with an oaken table, wrap around bench, and two chairs on the left and an oak hutch filled with everyday dishware and cutlery beside a closed door leading deeper into the house on the right. The remaining two-thirds of the room was partially cut off from the informal breakfast nook by a bar counter with four stools situated under it that was attached to the right hand wall.

Directly behind the bar, was a professional quality stainless steel stove top, oven, and grill combo beside a small cabinet that was topped with a large cutting board instead of a counter top. Along the right wall, there were three sets of double doors that led into a walk-in refrigerator, a walk-in freezer, and a walk-in pantry; all three rooms maintained with magic that kept the food at the proper temperature and under a localized stasis spell to prevent it from spoiling. Just past the pantry doors was another archway that led to a small entry hall and a backdoor that led outside.

The back wall of the kitchen had a series of oak cabinets with a mica countertop that was kept bare and a sheet glass window that ran the full length of the wall – giving an unimpeded view of the small vegetable and herb garden that sat just behind the picket fence that cut the grounds in half. Along the left hand wall, there was another short countertop where several kitchen appliances were lined up including a toaster, a toaster oven, a microwave, a blender, a coffee maker, and an ice cream maker. In the very center of the kitchen was an island with a large kitchen sink and built in cutting board beneath which were several cupboards and draws where all of the pots, pans, baking sheets, and cooking utensils were kept.

All in all, it was the type of kitchen that would have made Harry's maternal aunt green with envy and white with fear; the latter strictly due to the magic involved in creating and maintaining the room.

"What would you like to drink?" Harry inquired as he crossed the room and began pulling out the pots and pans that he would need to make lunch.

"What do you have on hand? Do you even have any food in the house? Didn't you say it had been a while since you were last here?"

"We keep the house fully stocked year round so we never have to worry about food when we are here. And, off the top of my head, I know I have coffee, tea, juice, milk, cola, and water, of course."

"No alcohol…?" Yuugao teasingly asked.

"Hmm, no, not in the kitchen unless you count the cooking sherry; we keep all of the alcohol under lock and key in the drawing room."

"Why lock it up?"

"Two reasons; one is to keep it out of reach of the children and the other is to protect it from theft, since some of the imported liquors we have in the house are both hard to get and rather expensive."

"Why would you have to worry about anything inside of the house being stolen? Wouldn't the barriers you have layered over the property and house protect everything?"

"Barriers can be broken and it is always better to go overkill on protective measures and not need them than to skimp on your security and rue the day it falls," Harry replied with only the slightest trace of bitterness that was left over from the wizarding war.

Yuugao let out a soft snort of amusement in response to that rather paranoid answer before she asked, "What kind of juices do you have?"

"We've got apple, grape, cranberry, pineapple, grapefruit, pomegranate, cherry, orange, prune, and any potential combination of one or more of the above."

"Prune juice…? Seriously? You keep prune juice on hand?"

"Arata swears by the stuff. I just swear the stuff is disgusting."

Yuugao laughed and shook her head as she took a seat at the counter to watch him working. Once her laughter trailed off she stated, "I would not say no to a glass of grapefruit juice."

Harry hummed an acknowledgement as he ducked into the refrigerator to grab the juice along with everything he would need to make chicken fajitas. He then ducked into the pantry to grab a can of pinto beans, the rice, and a small can of tomato sauce. Once he had everything he needed, he set everything on the island counter before he passed the carton of juice to Yuugao and let her know she would find the glasses in the hutch behind her. He then began making lunch; starting with the Spanish rice since it would take the longest to make.

Once the rice was simmering on the stove, Harry began slicing up the bell peppers (one each of red, yellow, and green) and an onion. The mostly comfortable silence that had fallen over the pair stretched out for several minutes before Yuugao broke the silence to ask, "Are you upset that I kissed you that day?"

Harry stilled his knife as he briefly glanced up to meet her pupil-less brown eyes for a heartbeat before he dropped his gaze back to the cutting board as he continued slicing the vegetables for the fajitas. He considered Yuugao's question for nearly a full minute before he replied, "No."

"But…?"

"I am… confused. I had honestly not expected you to kiss me out of the blue like that. In some ways, it was unsettling."

"Unsettling how?"

"Your kiss made me feels things that I had not felt in years; things that I had not thought were possible for me to feel after the war ended."

"What kind of feelings are you referring to and why would you think it wasn't possible for you to feel them?"

Harry blushed bright red as he slid the sliced vegetables into a bowl and gave the rice a quick stir before he began slicing up the raw chicken breast he'd pulled out. He barely contained the urge to squirm beneath Yuugao's gaze as he tried to think of an answer that wouldn't make him out to be some kind of pervert or cause her to laugh at him.

"Takeshi…?" Yuugao prompted after several more minutes had passed.

"It was that first blessed taste of air a drowning man takes upon breaking free of the water, the cool rush of sweet water a parched man tastes when he finally gets his first drink after escaping a desert, and the welcome searing heat of a blazing fire washing over a half frozen man coming in out of a blizzard," Harry quietly confessed as he stopped cutting the chicken and just stared at the cutting board without really seeing it. He then glanced up at Yuugao with glittering emerald eyes as he added, "Your kiss made me feel alive, Yuugao. It's been six years since a kiss last made me feel that way and the girl who made me feel that way would have become my wife had I not met Naruto."

"You loved her," Yuugao stated in a quiet voice.

"No. There might have been a time when I thought I was in love with her but in the end it was the idea she represented that I had fallen in love with. Don't get me wrong, I did care for her, but I did not love her. And I do not know if she ever loved me or if she was just in love with my money and fame. In any case, whatever it was that I had with her when we first got together did not survive the war and any hope I had held of rekindling what we had died on the night I was going to propose to her."

"I'm confused," Yuugao stated slowly and when Harry glanced up at her after he dumped the chicken in the skillet, he could see a puzzled frown on her face. "Did you plan to propose to her during or after the war?"

"After… We'd only dated for about a month, month and a half, during the war and I'd broken things off with her after the headmaster of our school died. We got back together a year later, after the war had ended, and were together for over year before I gave into the pressure she'd been putting on me to propose to her and purchased an engagement ring. The night that I was going to propose to her was the same night that I met Naruto… in fact, I'd been on my way to the café that she'd asked me to meet her at for our date when I got an urgent message from Arata and I dropped everything to go fetch Naruto. If Arata's letter had reached me just ten minutes later, I would have made the worst mistake in my life."

"Are you implying that you stood your girlfriend up on the night you planned to purpose her?"

"Yes."

"Why…?"

"My family needed me," Harry replied as he stirred the chicken.

"So she broke up with you because you ditched her to go help your cousin?"

"Chigau; I broke up with her after we had a huge fight in front of Naruto, her parents, and my best friend where she accused me of lying, insulted my itoko because he wasn't born with our Kekkei Genkai, demanded that I get rid of both Naruto and Satoshi because they cramped her style, and revealed her true nature as a glory-seeking fan-girl. I never should have gotten back together with her after the war but I had thought… well, it doesn't really matter what I thought any more. At the time, I was young, desperate to reclaim something of myself that I had lost during the war, and did not wish to hurt the girl who I had at one time believed truly loved me."

"She hurt you; she betrayed you by pretending to be something she was not. She is the reason why you find it hard to believe that a woman… that _I_, could be honestly interested in you, as a man, as opposed to being only interested in your bank account or your clan's prestige."

"She is not the only one to blame; I share an equal measure of the blame," Harry countered as he added the sliced bell pepper and onions to the chicken and opened the can of beans.

Yuugao made a strangled sound in the back of her throat that Harry couldn't quite interpret but when he glanced up at her, she'd already cleared her face of any emotion. He eyed her for a moment before he returned his attention to their meal as he dumped the beans into a small pan and set them on another burner to warm them up. He then spent several minutes tending the fajita mix before he pulled both the fajita mix and the rice off of the fire and set a cast iron tortilla warmer on the stove to heat up as he grabbed several corn and flour tortilla and tossed them on the warmer. While he waited for those to heat up, he tossed on a kettle of water to make himself some tea and started dishing up their food; pausing every few minutes to flip the tortillas.

"You never did finish answering my original question," Yuugao pointed out as Harry pulled the heated tortillas from the pan and tucked them into a styrofoam tortilla holder that had been layered with warming charms. "You did not explain why you believed that it was no longer for you to feel the kind of feelings that you felt when we kissed."

Harry didn't answer right away as he set his tea to steeping while he divvied up the beans as he noticed them boiling before he dished up bowls of sour cream, guacamole, and salsa; his mind racing to figure out just how much he could tell her without giving away information about himself that he was not yet ready to divulge. He then stalled for a bit longer as he transferred their meal onto the bar before he lifted his gaze so that he could look Yuugao in the eye once more.

The moment he was certain that he held her undivided attention he replied, "I was not meant to survive the war. I was supposed to die a martyr's death for the 'Greater Good'. I was raised as a sacrificial lamb; I had been kept in the dark about my supposed destiny for nearly seven years and received only the barest minimum of training before I was told that the only way to end the war was for me to die. Only I didn't die. And yet, I don't think I survived completely intact because I sacrificed too much of myself. Some part of me died and I felt cast adrift; a left over war relic and a broken weapon that was no longer needed."

"I was only going through the motions of living during the year and a half that followed the war. I clung to that which was familiar in the hopes that I would miraculously recapture what I had lost by living in the memory of what I had had before. The only reason that I did not slink off into some dark hole and pray for death to take me was because I could not bring myself to abandon my friends or my godson. When I was given custody of my godson, it grounded me because he needed me to be there for him but it wasn't until I met Naruto and spent a bit of time with him that I found what I had been searching for all along; a purpose and an escape from a life I wasn't really living."

Harry paused for a moment as he glanced away from Yuugao and dragged a hand through his hair before he turned back and added, "There is far more to the story than that, obviously, but that is all that is as much as I am willing to say for the moment. It is also no more and no less than I have told Ibiki during our monthly sessions over the past two years; which means that you are free to pass along any of that information to the Hokage, if he should ask."

"I was not assigned a mission to seduce you for information…" Yuugao hotly protested.

"I never said you were," Harry cut back without any heat as he made his way around the counter so that he could take a seat at the bar beside Yuugao. "I was simply letting you know that it would not bother me if you were to repeat what I told you about my past to the Hokage."

"The implication was in your words."

"Sumimasen, I had not intended for it to sound like I was accusing you of something."

"Why not…? I mean, it would be an obvious conclusion for you to reach given how much time I've spent in your company since the day you and your family arrived in Konoha."

"I will confess that there had been all of ten minutes where I had considered the possibility that you had been ordered to seduce me but I quickly discarded the likelihood that you had based on the fact that you had passed up far too many opportunities to seduce me over the past two years. Besides, the Hokage does not need you to seduce me for information when I am still attending monthly therapy sessions with the current Head of the Torture and Interrogation Department."

"Sumimasen, I should not have jumped to conclusions."

"You don't have to apologize; I should have made my meaning clearer in order to avoid a misunderstanding."

"In that case, you can make it up to me by making me one of those sinfully delicious chocolate cakes of yours," Yuugao ordered playfully.

"I'll think about it," Harry teased back as he dug into the meal.

They would spend the rest of the meal teasing one another in between bites; the two of them silently choosing to leave the heavier conversation for after the meal. By the time they finished eating and the leftovers had been put away, the uncomfortable tension that had been building between the two of them had faded. For Harry, the familiar camaraderie between them was a sharp reminder of why he'd developed a crush on the vivacious kunoichi in the first place. She was so easy to talk to; there were no awkward silence (most of the time), repetitive inanities, petty gossip, empty platitudes, or useless simpering.

After the meal, Harry sent a Kage Bunshin to let the children know that he wouldn't be joining them for lunch and to keep an eye on his newest wards to make certain they were not slacking off on their studies. Another clone was then sent to track down Yamato to find out if he had plans for their team to take a mission and if not, to ask for permission to skip their usual training for the afternoon. Once the clones had taken off, Harry allowed Yuugao to talk him into baking one of his chocolate explosion cakes with the provision that she helped him.

Harry had just set the freshly baked base cake off to one side so that it could cool when he felt Yuugao stepping into his personal space to peer over his shoulder at the cake. He glanced back to ask her to move back a bit so that he could start prepping the fudge filling for cake but ended up forgetting what he was going to say when his lips brushed against hers unexpectedly due to how close she'd been hovering behind him. They both froze and stared into each other's eyes for a moment in surprise. Harry then felt Yuugao's lips curl up in a smile against his before she closed her eyes and turned the accidental contact into a real kiss.

For a single heartbeat, Harry considered pulling away to break the kiss but the thought failed to fully form as he was swept up in a rush of desire as Yuugao deepened the kiss. Without conscious thought, Harry's body twisted around to face Yuugao so that his neck was no longer craned awkwardly to the side. At the same time, his hands settled themselves on her hips with his fingers splayed wide. The moment his body completed its rotation, Yuugao stepped closer and pressed her self against him as her arms wound around his neck.

Breathing became arbitrary when Yuugao coaxed his tongue into dueling with hers and he tasted the chocolate that she had snuck from the bag of chocolate chips when he hadn't been looking. Desire pooled in his stomach as his hands reflexively pulled her tighter against him before they slid from her hips to her back only for his right hand to move up to tangle itself in the vibrant tresses of long silk that was her hair. The soft moan that she uttered in response sent his blood southward as his body began to show its appreciation for the kunoichi in his arms.

Yuugao broke their kiss several seconds later to trail a series of searing kisses along his jaw and down to the base of his neck where she nipped lightly at the sensitive skin. Harry tipped his head back and to the side in response to the gentle nips while he dropped his hands down to cup her firm bottom and pulled her flush against his arousal. He reveled in the feel of her lithesome body pressed up against his right up until his brain registered the fact that his hands were on Yuugao's butt and he was holding her against him in an inappropriate position.

Mortification over the fact that he was essentially taking liberties that he didn't have permission to take, doused Harry's desire more effectively than a cold shower. He sprang apart from Yuugao a split second later and blurted out, "I'm sorry! Please don't kill me for groping you! I got carried away and wasn't thinking…"

"Takeshi, shut up," Yuugao growled as she closed the distance that Harry had put between them and Harry instinctively backed away until his back collided with the counter behind him. "I was perfectly happy with your hands right where they were and I've half a mind to be cross with you for removing them so abruptly."

"Nani!? Nande…?"

Yuugao stopped right in front of Harry and searched his eyes for several seconds before she heaved a sigh and quietly explained, "The life expectancy of a shinobi is short; few shinobi survive to reach their thirtieth birthday and those that do, have more often than not lost more teammates, friends, and loved ones than they have fingers. This life we have chosen is not an easy life and we court death each time we leave the village on a mission. Those of us who survive after we hit puberty quickly learn to take pleasure when and where we can least we end up regretting an endless string of missed chances. For us, there is no time to worry about things like courting and propriety because we could die on the next mission."

"That's not to say that we will sleep with every person that crosses our path; we each have standards and preferences, after all. It just means that we tend to fall in and out of beds fairly often. And it isn't as if we don't like to establish meaningful and lasting relationships, because we do. We just don't waste time trying to find out if every single potential partner is mister or missus right. Mutual attraction for shinobi inevitably means a few good romps beneath the sheets as soon as they are aware that the feelings are mutual before they move on or settle down to start a family."

"Of course, there are exceptions; such as those individuals that are too shy and those who just aren't interested," Yuugao finished a moment later. She then tipped her head to one side and blanked her face of any emotion as she asked, "Does the idea of casual sex really bother you that much?"

Harry's brow furrowed in thought as he considered a facet of the shinobi life that he'd never really paid any attention to over the past four years. A facet that hadn't really been touched upon by any of his tutors during the years leading up to their arrival in Konoha or by any of the shinobi that he'd mingled with over the past two years. Sex was also a topic that Harry tended to shy away from simply because of his inexperience in that department. He was beginning think that maybe it was something he should have paid more attention to; if only because it would have meant avoiding the current awkwardness with Yuugao.

Letting his gaze slide sideways to the view of the vegetable garden outside of the kitchen window, Harry let his thoughts briefly return the disastrous mission to Nami no Kuni. Specifically, his mind replayed his close brush with death at the hands of the Oni Kyoudai because of bad luck and worse timing. Near death experiences had a way of changing how one views their life; Harry should know, his life had been upended at least a dozen times by death and near death. If not for that in-his-face reminder of his own mortality, Harry probably would have chosen to answer Yuugao's question far differently then he did now as he finally returned his gaze to the vivacious kunoichi.

"There was a time when I would have said yes, the idea of casual sex bothered me that much. I was not raised as a shinobi, I was not even raised in a shinobi village, and therefore did not grow up with the same set of social values that developed here in Konoha or in other shinobi villages. There was also my aversion to being treated as a conquest by my fans that drove me to avoid any acts of intimacy coupled with my less than ideal childhood. There is nothing like a near brush with death to make one put things into prospective though."

"And now…?" Yuugao prompted as her blank mask slipped just the smallest of fractions as a hopeful glint entered her eyes.

"No, the thought of casual sex does not bother me as much as it would have before my mission to Nami," Harry replied even as a light blush began turning his face red. "That said, I still know next to knowing about what I'm doing when it comes to physical intimacy. Hugs and the occasional kiss is pretty much the extent of my experience. I have no clue on what would be considered acceptable and I know part of that depends on the people involved but without the experience to draw on, I'm basically flying blind here. And while there's no point in trying to deny that I am attracted to you, I just don't really know what to do about it."

Yuugao's entire face lit up with pleasure in response to his answer as she took the last step separating them, took his hands in hers, guided his hands back to her butt, and stated, "That won't be a problem; I'll be more than happy to teach you everything you need to know. For starters, I am a very tactile person; I like the feel of firm hands touching and massaging me all over."

Harry only had two heartbeats to register the fact that he'd just been given permission to let his hands wander where they will (something Ginny had flat out told him she wouldn't allow until there was a ring on her finger). Actually, Yuugao had basically just told him that she wanted and expected his hands to wander freely. All conscious thought fled once more right after that realization as Yuugao pressed her lips to his for a third time.

The half finished chocolate cake would be forgotten entirely as the two of them spent the afternoon in a rather heated make-out session where Yuugao patiently taught Harry how to properly turn a woman into putty using his hands and mouth without it devolving into rough groping. When they finally went their separate ways around supper time (Yuugao to get some much needed rest and Harry to spend some time with his family), there was an unspoken promise between the two of them to continue their intimate activities at the next opportunity provided.

Their second intimate encounter would take place on Yuugao's apartment a couple of days later when Harry finally got around to finishing Yuugao's chocolate cake and would involve a considerable amount of skin when they both ended up shirtless halfway through their time together. Their third meeting would again take place at the Namikaze Retreat where they ended up in a bed together for the first time and Harry experienced his first orgasm that was not self-induced. That was also the first time Harry ever laid eyes (and hands) on a completely naked woman.

It would not be until their tenth intimate meeting nearly two full months after they shared that first kiss outside of the Namikaze Apartments that Harry laid his virginity to rest when he buried himself to the hilt inside of Yuugao's womanhood for the first time. It was an experience that would be repeated many times with much enthusiasm from both participants. That wasn't to say that the only thing the two of them did together was have sex, it wasn't. They still trained together, still hung out with their other friends, occasionally cooked together, and even went on a few discreet dates.

They just also happened to frequently share a bed on those nights (and occasionally on those days) when they were both in the village.

* * *

**Translations:** Japanese to English

Nande – why  
Nani – what  
Sumimasen – I'm sorry (formal)

**Chocolate Explosion Cake** (my own personal creation)**:** devil's food bundt cake with a creamy fudge filling (chocolate pudding or mousse will also work), milk chocolate icing (buttercream, whip cream, or cream cheese icings work best), drizzled with both white and dark chocolate, and sprinkled with mini-chocolate chips (or chocolate sprinkles) and chopped nuts. Best when served slightly warm with a side of vanilla, chocolate chip, or strawberry ice cream.

* * *

**AN:** _Just a couple of quick notes about the chapter here; first, if the way Harry and Yuugao got together seems a bit rushed; that was intentional and the reasons for it were already provided in the chapter. Also, keep in mind that they were dancing about each other for quite some time. The second note, for those disappointed that I didn't go into more detail at the end of the chapter, I'll apologize; the romance in this story is sort of a sub-plot and will therefore mostly only be mentioned in passing with an occasional moment of fluff added as filler here and there. So, don't expect a bunch of citrus flavored scenes to crop up.  
_

_I think that about covers it. I actually still have two more chapters that I plan to post because I split the next chapter in half to work in the training scene I skipped over earlier since it fit better there then it did in the original place I was trying to squeeze it. Both chapters are also a sort of lead in to the Chuunin Exam Arc which I'm still writing. (It's only taking me so long because there is just so much that is happening during that arc and I have to make certain I don't drop any of the fiddling little plot points I have lined up.) _

_Anyway, I should have chap 37 up either Wednesday or Thursday (just as soon as I finish polishing it up) and then will post chap 38 either Friday or Saturday. So, even though I cut out Ibiki's chapter, you'll still get an extra chapter in this arc. The last thing I'll say before I end this note is a huge thank you to everyone who wished me well while I was sick; your concern was very much appreciated. =) So, extra fudge all around. Yum - baking season is here again! I have homemade peanut brittle too if any of you'd like that instead. =D ~ Jenn_

**PS:**_ updated the previous chapter to fix a few errors and clean up one little part but there's no reason to go back and reread the chapter since I didn't make any real changes. _


	37. Chuunin Hopefuls

**Disclaimer:** _All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies and all Naruto characters are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites._

**Warnings:** _AU for parts of both worlds (i.e. kiss canon goodbye), mild character bashing, mild to moderate violence (there are shinobi involved after all), and a few others that will be announced as they crop up. _

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

**Chapter 37: Chuunin Hopefuls**

_Monday, November 03, 2003, Morning  
Konohagakure no Sato, Hi no Kuni_

Naruto walked onto Training Ground Three alongside Housei and Midori only to stumble to a stop when his eyes landed upon Kakashi leaning against the training posts. It was very odd for their sensei to arrive before them and it was odder still for the man to not only be on time but a good fifteen minutes early to one of their training sessions. Typically, Kakashi would show up around twenty minutes after their appointed meeting time unless they were leaving the village on a mission, then he'd only be running about four or five minutes late.

Rumor had it that there was a time when Kakashi would show up two and three hours late for any appointment that wasn't a mission. Naruto suspected that his sensei's fear of Takeshi's temper was one of the reasons that he was never too late for their training sessions. The other reason he imagined had something to do with the rumors he'd heard about the Purge that had taken place after he'd snuck out of the village to find his family. Few people ever talked about the Purge and those that did only spoke about it in hushed tones.

Tipping his head to one side, Naruto wondered what could have brought their sensei to their assigned training ground close to forty minutes early. He didn't have to wonder long because the moment Kakashi's uncovered eye caught sight of the three of them, he straightened up and crossed the distance separating them.

"Ohayou, my cute little students," Kakashi greeted with an eye smile. "Today is your lucky day."

"Why do I suddenly feel the need to run as far and fast as I can?" Naruto rhetorically asked out of the corner of his mouth as he leaned closer to Housei.

"I heard that," Kakashi growled in mock irritation as he scowled (more like pouted) in Naruto's direction while all three Genin just snickered. The Jounin then snorted and shook his head as he pulled out a trio of four by six inch cards from his pocket and held them up in front of the three teens. "As I was saying; today is your lucky day. I am holding in my hand the key to your future; a trio of applications for the next round of Chuunin Exams that will be held in Konoha in this winter."

"You entered us in the Chuunin Exams?" Housei demanded in excitement as he attempted to snag the applications out of Kakashi's hands; only for the Jounin to lift them out of the older teen's reach at the last second.

"Yes, I nominated the three of you for the Exams," Kakashi replied as all traces of playfulness disappeared. "That said, you are not required to participate in the Exams if you do not think you are ready. No one will hold it against you if you wish to pass this time around. I believe that the three of you are ready to give the Chuunin Exams a shot but you need to believe in yourself if you want to have any hope of passing the Exams. You will have one week to decide before you need to fill out your applications and give them back to me so that I know whether or not we'll be taking any missions leading up to the start of the Exams."

Naruto took the deceptively flimsy application that Kakashi handed to him as excitement began to fill him and after taking a moment to study the blank form, he glanced up and asked, "Takeshi-nii really agreed to let us take the Chuunin Exam?"

"I don't know; you'll have to ask him because you'll need your guardian's signature on the card in order to be allowed to enter the Exams."

"You mean you didn't ask him for permission before you nominated us?" Midori inquired curiously.

"I do not need a guardian's permission to nominate my team for the Exams; it is up to you to secure your guardian's permission to enter the Exams," Kakashi countered sternly. "My decision to nominate the three of you was based upon the amount of growth you've done since you were placed on my team, your current skills, and your untapped potential."

"You just didn't want oniisan to kill you the moment you opened your mouth and mentioned our names and the Chuunin Exams in the same sentence," Naruto knowingly retorted; Kakashi had been very careful over the past two years to never set off Takeshi's anger.

"Actually, that wasn't why I didn't approach Takeshi first," Kakashi denied with a soft laugh. "However, it is why I didn't wait until the very last minute to decide whether or not I was going to enter you this time around. The fact that the Exams are being held in Konoha this time around was another one of the reasons why I chose to nominate you now. The reason why I didn't run your nominations by Takeshi first was because the three of you need to be the ones to convince him that you are ready to take the Exams and I was not going to make that job any easier on you by justifying my right to enter you to him."

"Oh," Naruto murmured as he blinked at his sensei; that had actually made far more sense than he'd expected it to. He then took one last look at the application in his hand before he tucked it into his pocket and asked, "So, are we going to do start training now?"

"Nope; the three of you have the rest of the week off to think about whether or not you are going to enter the Chuunin Exams. If you don't, then we're going to be picking up a slue of missions to pick up the slack that will be created by those teams that are going to be entering. If you do enter, then I'll be putting together specialized training programs to get you ready for the Exams. I'll meet you back here at our usual time next Monday."

Kakashi disappeared in a swirl of leaves a heartbeat later and the three teens were left staring at one another. Naruto sighed and stuffed his hands in his pockets as he asked, "So, do we get in a bit of training or do we go terrorize the neighborhood until lunch time when we can talk to niisan about the Exams?"

"Are you going to try and enter then?" Housei asked curiously.

"Sure, why not?"

"You do know that whole teams have died during past Chuunin Exams, ne?" Midori asked as she worried at her bottom lip in nervousness.

"Yeah but there are always far fewer deaths when the Exams are held here in Konoha," Naruto pointed out. "Besides, I doubt Kakashi-sensei would have even considered nominating us if he didn't think we could handle the Exams. That doesn't mean he expects us to pass them this time around; just that he thinks we're ready to experience them first hand."

"The midget has a point," Housei mused as he propped his elbow on Naruto's head.

"Oi! What who you're calling a midget, beanpole!"

"You are both idiots," Midori declared as she spun on her heel and began walking out of the training ground.

"Where are you going, 'Dori-chan?" Naruto demanded as he elbowed Housei in the side and darted after the kunoichi.

"If you two idiots are determined to take the stupid Chuunin Exam in two and a half months, then we're going to have to hash out a logical argument in order to convince Takeshi-nii to allow us to enter. Or have you forgotten that we both need oniisan's permission and that we have to enter as a team?"

"You make it sound like you don't want to take the Exams," Housei stated as both boys caught up to Midori.

"I do… I just…"

"You're nervous because we had no warning what-so-ever that Kakashi-sensei was even planning on nominating us this time around," Naruto softly finished for her. "We've been a team for almost two years though and sensei has pushed all three of us far harder than most Jounin sensei push their Genin. He never lets us cut corners, he doesn't tolerate whining, and he doesn't let our heads swell up no matter how good we get. Takeshi-nii is just as tough on us; never letting us skip out on the boring book work, never allowing us to neglect our health, and making certain we don't get burnt out from training or missions.

He then grabbed her hand and pulled her to a stop as he added, "If we treat the Exams as a mission, we can get through it together. We've got more than enough time to prepare for the Exams; I mean, come on! How many missions have we gone on where we get a full two months to train and prepare?"

"I know that," Midori huffed as she gave him a small smile before she pulled her hand free and playfully shoved him away from her. Naruto grinned at her in response as they began walking once more; the kunoichi's good mood and confidence dutifully restored. "Why do you think I said what I did about putting together a proper argument to convince Takeshi to let us enter?"

The three of them would end up spending most of the morning holed up in one of the private reading rooms within the Shinobi Library working on what they would say to Takeshi in order to persuade him to allow them to take the Exams. They tried to anticipate each and every reason the older Namikaze would use to deny them the chance to take the Exams this time around and come up with reasonable counters for each one. They also looked up the archive records and reports for the past ten Chuunin Exams in order to familiarize themselves with the history of the Exams and the Genin that had taken them before they carefully filled out their applications.

In the end, all of their hard work would be for nothing…

After they had finished their research, the trio of teens had returned to their apartment above the Namikaze Wheelhouse for lunch since that was one of the few times when they knew that they'd see Takeshi when he was in the village. Sure, they could have gone to the ranch to track him down but it would be a pain trying to track him down if he'd decided to spend the morning out in the pastures checking on the herds rather than training the yearlings and two year olds. There was also the slight chance that Takeshi's team had been pulled for gate duty if someone called in sick.

The three Genin would end up spending an hour hanging out with Satoshi and the four younger boys from Nami that lived with them while they waited for Takeshi to arrive home. The hour spent focusing on something other than their pending conversation with Takeshi helped the three of them to relax. When his cousin finally did walk through the door, Naruto couldn't help but smile as all five of the younger boys swarmed the green eyed wizard. Warmth and pride filled the bewhiskered blond as the knowledge that this was his family filled him alongside the renewed contentment he could feel radiating from Takeshi.

Lunch was the usual boisterous affair that it had been since Inari and the three orphans had joined them and Naruto couldn't help but marvel at how different meals were now when compared to when he first found Takeshi. Those first few weeks with his cousin had been rather quiet when compared to the near constant chaos and noise that filled their home now.

Naruto loved it.

He loved being surrounded by friends and family.

He loved the safety and security that he felt each time he walked through the door.

And he loved his life.

At the end of the meal, Naruto felt a thread of nervousness fill him as he dug into his pocket to retrieve his application for the Chuunin Exam while he followed Takeshi to the door alongside Housei and Midori. Taking a deep breath, Naruto firmly fixed the speech the three of them had come up with in his mind as he asked, "Niisan, will you wait up for a minute? We'd like to talk to you."

"What did you need?" Takeshi inquired as he left off getting ready to leave and gave his attention to the three teens.

"Kakashi-sensei nominated our team for the Chuunin Exams in a couple of months and we'd like your permission to enter," Naruto began determinedly as he offered his completed application to his cousin. "We did our research and we know…"

"Alright, leave your applications on my desk and I will sign them when I get home this evening," Takeshi interrupted as he barely gave the application a glance.

"We know that…" Naruto countered before his cousin's words sank in and he demanded, "Wait, what?"

"You have my permission to enter; I'll sign your forms tonight."

"But… but… why?"

"Isn't that what you want? To enter the Chuunin Exams?"

"Yes."

"Then what's the problem?"

"We expected you to say no right away," Housei answered when Naruto couldn't seem to do anything but gape at Takeshi in shock.

"Why did you expect me to say no?"

"We didn't think that you would believe we were ready," Midori supplied after a brief glance in Naruto's direction.

"Do you believe that you are ready?" Takeshi asked as he grabbed his cloak and slipped it on.

"Yes," Naruto slowly replied as he dropped the hand holding his application down to his side. "We spent all morning in the library preparing our arguments for all of the possible reasons why you'd refuse."

"Then I don't see what the problem is; you asked for my permission and I gave it."

"But why aren't you mad? Why aren't you going into your usual overprotective mother hen mode and threatening to castrate Kakashi-sensei in creatively painful ways?"

"Kakashi-san is your sensei and he is the one who would know best if you had the skills necessary to compete in the Chuunin Exams and since the next Exams will be held here in Konoha, it is the best time for you to experience the Exams first hand. There is also the fact that all three of you approached the matter maturely; telling me that you are both confident in your skills and willing to take the Exams seriously."

"So we spent all morning in the library for nothing?" Naruto practically wailed.

"No. You didn't. The time you spent in the library helped you find the confidence you needed to approach me while believing that I was going to fight you tooth and nail about your participation. That right there tells me that you are ready for the experience that taking the Exams will provide you."

"Did you know sensei was going to nominate us?" Housei asked curiously.

"No, but I've actually been suspecting that he would fairly soon since most Genin teams are entered after their first or second year on a team unless their growth has been utterly deplorable. I've watched enough of your training sessions and sparred with each of you enough to know that all three of you have grown quite a bit. I hate to cut this conversation short but I am going to be late for my afternoon training if I don't leave now. If you still have questions, I can answer them for you this evening after supper."

Takeshi slipped on his shoes, buckled his swords into place, grabbed his utility pouch, and slipped out the door a moment later. Naruto felt rather numb in the wake of the rather surreal conversation. He wasn't certain whether or not he should be happy that Takeshi thought he was ready to take the Exams.

"Well, that was rather anticlimactic," Housei deadpanned as the door closed behind the green eyed Chuunin.

"It was rather unexpected," Midori agreed with a shrug of her shoulders.

"It was too confusing and weird," Naruto countered with a slight frown. "Come on, let's go prank that Mitarashi woman; we haven't annoyed her in over a week."

Both Midori and Housei snorted and rolled their eyes in response to Naruto's obsession with the purple haired kunoichi; they thought him nuts for constantly pissing her off. That never stopped them from grabbing plenty of pranking supplies or helping him hunt down the annoying woman whenever he was in the mood to remind her that he still hadn't forgotten or forgiven her for what she'd done.

* * *

_Monday, November 10, 2003, Morning  
Konohagakure no Sato, Hi no Kuni_

Kakashi studied his cute little Genin as they milled about their team's usual training grounds without a care in the world and he couldn't help but smirk at them. He already knew that they'd been given permission to enter the upcoming Chuunin Exams; Arata had laughingly regaled him with the story of how Takeshi's rather blasé agreement taking the trio off completely guard because they'd expected him to refuse. Kakashi himself was rather surprised that Takeshi actually trusted his judgment regarding the trio's skills.

Then again, Kakashi had been very careful not to give the Chuunin any reason not to trust him. He hadn't wanted to fight the man every step of the way when it came to Naruto's training or mission schedule. His decision to be mindful of Takeshi's temper and overprotective nature had certainly paid off since the younger man had not attempted to eviscerate him at any point over the past two years. Not even when a handful of the missions he'd taken his Genin on had gone to hell-in-a-hand basket partway through the job and been upped in rank as a result.

Pushing aside his thoughts on the unexpected level of trust Takeshi had given him, Kakashi refocused on his precious little students as he reviewed the new training schedule he'd spent the last week putting together. He had two months to whip his Genin into shape for the Chuunin Exams in order to make certain that they could survive anything the other participants threw at them. Another smirk stretched out the cloth face mask covering the bottom half of his face as he dropped down out of the trees and casually strolled up to his Genin; he was going to enjoy this.

"Ohayou, my cute little students," Kakashi greeted as soon as they noticed his arrival.

"G'morning, sensei!" the three little Genin chirruped in return and if Kakashi had been a more suspicious person he might have suspected the little gaki to have a prank planned because of their unusually sunny dispositions – which was far more excited than usual.

He also knew they'd recently pranked Anko again and they tended to bask in the glow of success each time they nailed the Tokubetsu Jounin good. And the kunoichi had been kicked out of her favorite dango stand for causing a ruckus a few days earlier. Rumor had it that the woman had been foaming at the mouth (literally) and spewing out curses about her dango being spiked with dish soap. The owner of the shop had not been impressed.

Clapping his hands together as he shoved their latest prank out of his mind, Kakashi asked, "Have the three of you decided whether or not you're going to enter the Chuunin Exams in January?"

"Yeah," Naruto answered with a nod.

"We're going to enter," Housei added with a nod of his own.

"And we have permission," Midori finished with a little head bob.

"But you already knew that," Naruto pointed out. "I know you had lunch with Arata-nii a few days ago and the two of you always gossip like old ladies when you hang out together."

"It is always prudent to confirm second hand information from a second source before you act upon it," Kakashi sagely informed the trio as he purposefully ignored the teasing insult; he'd get the gaki back for that later. "Do you have your applications?"

As one, all three Genin presented their completed applications and Kakashi briefly skimmed through them as he collected them before he tucked them into his pocket as he commented, "Everything looks to be in order. I suppose that means it's time to up your training."

"Are you going to teach us any cool jutsu?" Naruto eagerly inquired and Kakashi mentally snorted over the pre-teen's antics.

"No, not right now, at least," Kakashi replied and he nearly smirked when Naruto immediately began pouting. "We're going to work on improving your existing skills first and if there's enough time once I'm done with that, then I will consider teaching the three of you a couple of new tricks."

His three Genin glanced at one another before Housei curiously asked, "What are you going to have us doing?"

"I'm so glad you asked," Kakashi burbled in an overly cheerful tone and he was pleased to note that all three of his Genin looked a bit worried in response to his words. "Follow me."

Laughing softly under his breath, Kakashi led the trio across the village to one of the more popular training grounds for those in the ANBU Corps. He'd only managed to book it for his team because he was a former ANBU Captain and because the Hokage had pulled a few strings for him. They'd also only be able to use it for two hours, three days a week for a month for pretty much the same reason. That was more than enough to put his cute little students through their paces and help them improve their current skills in a live-action environment with needing to risk life or limb to do so.

Less than fifteen minutes later, the four of them were standing outside of a heavy door set into the concrete wall that surrounded the training ground to prevent stray weapons or techniques from injuring by-standers. Clapping his hands together, Kakashi had to suppress the urge to voice an evil laugh and rub his hands together when he noticed the wary looks that the three were giving the enclosed training ground.

"Welcome to Training Ground Thirty-Three also known as the Compound by those that train here regularly."

"Why's it walled in?" Midori inquired with a slight frown.

"For protection."

"Does that mean it's like the Forest of Death?" Naruto asked as he tipped his head to one side and studied the wall a second time.

"Ah, no; there are no wild animals living inside of this particular training ground. The wall is there to prevent people passing by from getting caught up in any stray weapons or wide range attacks as this particular training ground in often used to test experimental jutsu in combat situations."

"Does that mean we're going to be training with another team?" Housei asked curiously as he pulled his eyes from the wall and glanced around as if to look for any one approaching the training grounds.

"Nope; all opponents are provided by the training ground."

"How does that work, sensei?" Naruto wondered as all three Genin turned their attention back to Kakashi.

"Area wide seal generated genjutsu coupled with automated practice dummies," Kakashi explained as he unlocked the door to the training ground. "There are exactly seventy-five possible training scenarios; twenty-five for each level of difficulty. Each scenario runs until all of your opponents have been neutralized, until you are knocked unconscious, or until exactly two hours have passed; whichever comes first."

"So, basically, it's just like running an actual mission but without an actual client?" Midori guessed.

"No, these scenarios are nothing like missions. You can consider each training simulation to be a fight to the death without the actual risk of getting killed or being permanently injured. Each session is also monitored and recorded for evaluation purposes. Any other questions…? No? Then in you go."

"Aren't you coming with us?" Housei asked in surprise.

"Nope; I'm going to watch from the observation room," Kakashi replied as he nodded towards the building that had been built up against the wall about ten feet back from the entrance while he reached out to pull the door open.

"This is going to be painfully humiliating for us, isn't it?" Naruto commented as the teens and one near-teen reluctantly slipped through the door that Kakashi was holding open for them.

Kakashi only chuckled in response to that observation and pushed the door closed behind the kids. He then locked the door (to keep anyone from interrupting their session) before he pocketed the key and strolled towards the control center for the Compound. Stepping inside, he nodded to the two silent ANBU members that were on clean up duty for the day (they were the ones that cleaned and repaired the training grounds between sessions). He then made his way to the observation room and dropped down into an empty chair as he stared at the wall of security monitors that were linked to the surveillance cameras that were scattered throughout the Compound.

He smirked as he caught sight of his students on one of the monitors; the three of them were still standing right beside the door looking a little unsure of themselves. Kakashi could easily imagine that the trio was cursing him out in the privacy of their minds and even if they weren't right that second, they would be the moment the seals for the simulation were activated. He also couldn't help but wonder just how long they would last this first time and if they'd beat the record for the shortest run or if they'd last longer than the worst rookie ANBU.

"What in the world possessed you to send a team of Genin through the Compound?" a bird-masked shinobi demanded as he elegantly dropped down into the empty chair beside Kakashi.

"They've been entered in the upcoming Chuunin Exams," Kakashi answered without taking his eyes off of the screen where his students were only just now starting to venture forth into the Compound.

"That is hardly reason enough to send them through the ANBU's Combat Course."

"Sandaime-sama received confirmation a week ago that the Tsuchikage was sending three teams to participate in an Exam being hosted by Konoha for the first time in over fifteen years."

"What's Iwa's Genin got to do with the Genin on the field?"

"Take a good long look at the Genin on the screen and tell me you can't figure it out yourself," Kakashi dryly retorted as he turned to shoot the other shinobi an incredulous look for having to actually spell things out for him.

"The girl…? What's so special about her?"

"No, not the girl; the blond."

"The blond…? Oh, hey; isn't that Namika…? Oh, that's why you're so concerned about Iwa's participation," the other (younger) man replied as he finally got a clue.

"Precisely. Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to observe my cute little students in action," Kakashi replied as he returned his attention to the monitor at the same exact moment as the Genin on screen encountered their first opponent.

* * *

**Translations:** Japanese to English

Ohayou – good morning (informal)  
Oi – hey  
Oniisan/niisan/nii – older brother

* * *

**AN:** _I know this is late but I ran into a few technical issues while I was cleaning up the second half of the chapter and eventually tossed what I'd originally had for a training session and wrote something completely different. The original training session was supposed to be a lot more humorous but it didn't really flow right and somehow I ended up giving Kakashi a bit of a sadistic streak here (he did just send his Genin into an ANBU Training Facility) though he had a valid reason for doing so. This also ties into a later plot point.  
_

_Anyway, that's this chapter done. The next chapter, which was actually originally part of this chapter, will be up once I finish the second half of it (since as I'd mentioned in my note from the previous chapter, I'd split it off from this one because I wanted to add the training session). I don't yet have an exact date for when it will be posted but it will at least be up by next weekend. _

_On a plus note, in between my frustrations with this chapter, I managed to finish the next chapter of Stubborn Shadow and wrote up another one for Magic Online. I still need to go back and clean them up before I can post them but you can expect both of those stories to be updated by next weekend as well. I've also nearly finished the next arc for Twice Blessed Shinobi and will be able to start posting that soon if all goes well for the final few chapters. You can check my author's page for more details. ~ Jenn_


	38. Sucker Punches

**Disclaimer:** _All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies and all Naruto characters are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites._

**Warnings:** _AU for parts of both worlds (i.e. kiss canon goodbye), mild character bashing, mild to moderate violence (there are shinobi involved after all), brief references to acts of a sexual nature, and a few others that will be announced as they crop up. _

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

**Chapter 38: Sucker Punches  
**

_Monday, January 05, 2004, Morning  
Konohagakure no Sato, Hi no Kuni_

Harry bemusedly watched as Inari, Akihiro, Hikaru, and Kazuki all scrambled about the apartment as they got ready for their first day at the Shinobi Academy. Seeing them rush back and forth as they hunted for misplaced belongings brought back memories of the Weasley family on September first during his first six years at Hogwarts. The wizard felt more than a little nostalgic at the comparison and a brief flash of worry filled him when he realized that he still had not received a response to the letters he'd sent out back in September.

"Tousan, why are they acting so crazy?" Teddy inquired from his perch on Harry's shoulders; his voice bringing Harry back to the present.

"They are nervous and excited about their first day at the Academy," Harry explained with a chuckle as he watched Inari hopping about on one foot as he tried to put on his shoe at the same time as he tried to pull on the backpack that Harry had purchased for him to carry his things in.

"Weird. I didn't act like that on my first day of pre-school."

"No, you didn't; you were too busy being extra shy as you buried your face against my shoulder."

"Tousan!" Teddy complained in response to the teasing.

Harry only chuckled again as he reached up to poke his son in the side. The five (and a half!) year old giggled and squirmed away from his finger. He spent another three minutes entertaining Teddy with the tickle-poke fight before he glanced at his watch to check the time. Seeing that they were quickly running out of time, Harry stopped messing around and let out a sharp whistle that drew the attention of all four boys.

"The four of you need to calm down and grab your things; we need to leave now or we will be late to the opening ceremony."

There were four eeps and another mad scramble before all four children were dutifully lined up in front of Harry and ready to go. Harry quickly inspected the children to make certain they were presentable before he ushered them out the door and down the stairs. They would arrive at the Academy fifteen minutes later and Harry was taken aback by the sheer number of six through ten year olds that had gathered outside of the building for the opening ceremony with their parents or guardians. Several more adults with children in tow would arrive over the course of the next seven minutes.

Another ten minutes would pass as both the adults and children mingled. At the end of those ten minutes, a hush fell over the entire group as the Sandaime Hokage made his appearance at the head of the stairs leading up into the Academy. The aged shinobi let his gaze wander through the crowd for a moment, his eyes briefly catching Harry's eyes before flicking up to the child still perched on the wizard's shoulder, before he addressed the group.

"Good morning, ladies, gentlemen, and students," Sarutobi intoned as he nodded to the crowd.

Harry's attention was drawn from the Hokage's speech at that point when Teddy asked the one question he had never wanted to hear his son utter, "Tousan, can I go to the Academy too? I want to be a shinobi like you and niisan."

"You're not yet old enough," Harry automatically replied as he tried to remember how to breathe around the knife that had pierced his heart at the mere thought of his precious godson, _his son_, taking up a hitai-ate.

"When will I be old enough?" Teddy demanded eagerly as he wriggled impatiently on his perch.

_Never_, Harry screamed internally before he cleared his throat and hoarsely replied, "Six and you'd still have to wait until the next open enrollment period before you could join."

"Does that mean I can go soon?"

"We'll discuss it later," Harry deflected in an effort to buy himself time to regain his equilibrium.

"When…?"

He was saved from having to continue the discussion right then and there by his four wards as they surged around him to say goodbye before they joined the rest of the children streaming into the open doors of the Shinobi Academy; he'd missed the Hokage's entire opening speech after being blindsided with his son's announcement. Harry watched them go before he scowled at the Sandaime who was standing off to one side of the doors smiling at the children as they lined up to become the next generation of children soldiers. The wizard stalked away a heartbeat later in order to deliver Teddy to his pre-school.

As soon as they arrived at the preschool, Harry set Teddy on his feet and he watched the young metamorphmagus dart towards the group of children that he'd befriended. He kept his feet rooted to the ground as he watched his son greet his friends before joining in whatever game the children had been playing before he arrived least he give into the urge to destroy the Academy. It wouldn't do attack the place while it was full of children. Nor did he have any desire to end up as one of Ibiki's permanent guests.

He more than a little tempted to apparate to the nearest training ground and turn it into a crater but that would only see him being fined for destroying public property. And, if he followed through with that urge, Yamato would give him the stink eye for ruining a perfectly good forest and for creating more work for him since he'd be the one required to regrow any damaged trees. That would probably also net him a visit with Ibiki so that the man could pry deeply into the reasons why Harry felt the need to destroy a training ground out of the blue.

Harry considered just going home for a moment before he vetoed that idea as well. He didn't want to inflict his black mood on Naruto when the blond was so sensitive to his negative emotions. He would need to avoid the Ranch for pretty much the same reason; since the horses would be unsettled by his anger – especially the younger ones.

Sighing, Harry spun on his heel and headed for the Red Light District. He normally avoided that part of the city but it was the only place that served cheap liquor at this time of day. Sure, he could have gone to the Retreat and dug into his private stock of magical alcohols but he didn't feel like wasting good alcohol when he knew he couldn't get drunk. And what he really wanted right that moment was to be drunk; so he wouldn't have to think about the fact that Teddy wanted to be a shinobi.

It wasn't that he had anything against shinobi, he didn't. He had learned to respect shinobi during the time he'd lived in Konoha. It wasn't even the idea of Teddy becoming a child soldier in four to six years that bothered him (though he wasn't exactly comfortable with that idea either). He'd watched his cousin and those children that wore a hitai-ate over the past few years and knew that they typically faced far less danger than Harry had during his years at Hogwarts.

No, what bothered him was the fact that Teddy's new dream would rob him of his heritage.

Harry had always intended to find a way for Teddy to return to England so he could attend Hogwarts but if Teddy took up a hitai-ate, then he would not be allowed to just disappear for seven years. Even if (by some miracle) the Hokage could be convinced to give permission for Teddy to leave, Harry would be forced to send him off alone because he knew the Hokage would not allow him to go with Teddy. Not with half of the Kyuubi stuck in his gut. Nor would Harry wish to leave Naruto alone for seven years.

He could, theoretically, ask Arata and Eri to go with Teddy but he knew they wouldn't want to uproot their family. Not when they were so happy here. He also wouldn't feel right asking his cousin to take over his responsibility to Teddy.

Yet, if he told Teddy no, then his godson would be very angry with him. It would also make him look like a hypocrite because he himself was a shinobi. As was Naruto. The four orphans he was sponsoring would likely end up earning their hitai-ate in two to four years, as well (unless they chose not to actually take up a hitai-ate once their education was finished).

Irritated with the direction his thoughts were taking, Harry growled at himself and shoved his worries to the back of his mind as he entered the first open bar he saw. He paused in the doorway for a split second to give his eyes time to adjust to the dark interior before he strode up to the bar. The bartender appeared before him a moment later and Harry didn't even wait for the man to greet him before he ordered three bottles sake. The man gave him a skeptical look but said nothing as he set three bottles on the bar and accepted Harry's money in return.

Harry then collected his sake and ignored the sake saucers that the bartender had offered him before he retreated to the unoccupied table in the far corner of the bar. He dropped heavily into the corner chair so that he had his back to the wall and could keep an eye on both the room and the door. Once seated, he deliberately lined up his sake bottles in front of him before he opened the first bottle and took a large drink. He easily ignored the rather unpleasant taste of the alcohol as he swallowed; twelve years of drinking foul potions had pretty much deadened his taste buds.

The twenty-three year old wizard would spend the rest of the morning steadily working his way through those three bottles and another nine exactly like them. The bartender had tried to cut him off after the fourth bottle but Harry hadn't been in the mood to cooperate. There had also been a small handful of customers that tried to evict him from his seat but he paid them no mind. The only reason why Harry hadn't been kicked out of the bar for getting snarky with those that approached him was the hitai-ate tied around his left leg; which the bartender had seen when Harry first entered the bar.

Even after twelve bottles of sake, Harry wasn't drunk. He didn't even feel slightly tipsy thanks to his magic and the Kyuubi's chakra burning the alcohol from his bloodstream almost as soon as it entered. It was actually rather depressing to still be stone cold sober despite the large amount of sake he'd drank on an empty stomach. Worse yet was the fact that he couldn't stop thinking about Teddy's request to join the Shinobi Academy.

Glaring at the twelve empty bottles stacked on his table (as if blaming them for their failure to take his mind off his current problem), Harry raised his arm to flag down the bartender for another round. His arm would drop a split second later when an unfamiliar shinobi approached his table with a bottle of sake and two sake saucers in hand. Harry studied the man intently as he walked towards Harry without any hesitation.

The man had long black hair tied back in a loose ponytail at the base of his neck, pale skin, and aristocratic features that almost reminded Harry of the Malfoys. Then again, that could have just been the way the man held his back ramrod straight without any effort. His eyes were dark and it was rather hard to discern their actual color in the dim light of the bar. The most notable feature of his face though was the stress lines and Harry figured he must be older than him. Like most of the shinobi in the village, the man wore the standard shinobi uniform with a green flak jacket over top. The only difference between the man's uniform and Harry's was that instead of a red spiral on the arm, he had a red and white fan inside a silhouette of a shuriken.

As the man came to a stop at Harry's table, the wizard discovered that the man was far younger than Harry had originally thought him to be. In fact, Harry was now pretty certain that the man was actually still just a teen. Harry tipped his head to one side upon that realization; the younger shinobi acutely reminding him of himself during his late teens.

"May I join you, Namikaze-sama?"

Harry frowned slightly over the fact that the teen knew who he was while he had no idea who the teen might be. He was half tempted to tell the teen no because of that until he realized that the teen just might distract him long enough for him to bury the image of Teddy wearing a hitai-ate that was looming in the back of his mind. Decision made, Harry used his foot to push out the chair across from him as he replied, "Sure, why not."

"Arigatou, Namikaze-sama," the teen replied as he hooked the chair with his foot to straighten it out before he gracefully sat down.

"You seem to have me at a disadvantage here; you know who I am but I have no idea who you are outside of the fact that you are a shinobi of Konoha," Harry declared as he watched the teen crack open the sake bottle and pour out two shots of sake before he slid one of them towards the wizard.

"Your reputation precedes you, Namikaze-sama," the teen quipped with just the slightest curling of his lips. "And my itoko has spoken fondly of you and your family."

"Ah, I suppose you're seeking a formal apology and potential restitution for a prank then," Harry mused as he ignored the saucer of sake sitting in front of him.

"Chigau, I merely wished to meet the man that amused my itoko; it has been years since the last time I heard my itoko laugh so often and so freely," the teen countered before he gestured to the untouched sake in front of Harry. "The sake is not poisoned; I assure you."

"Oh, I'm not worried about being poisoned… I'm just waiting for you to introduce yourself, since it would be rude of me to accept a drink when I still don't know your name."

"You truly have no idea who I am?"

"Not a single clue."

"How odd," the teen murmured as he studied Harry for a moment. He then inclined his head and added, "My name is Uchiha Itachi and I am the Head of the Uchiha Clan and the newly elected Captain of Konoha's Military Police Force."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Uchiha-sama," Harry replied as he lifted the saucer of sake from the table and toasted the younger clan head before downing the entire shot. He then carefully set the empty saucer down on the table before he folded his arms on the table and leaned over them as he idly commented, "You know, I find it rather strange that you are the first and only Uchiha I've spoken to, at least that I am aware of, since I moved to Konoha just over two years ago."

"I would have been surprised if you had had contact with a member of my clan before now," Itachi stated on the heels of a small sip of sake. "Our numbers and our reputation are not what they once were."

"And yet, according to your earlier statement, I have amused your itoko."

"He has merely observed you from a distance while performing his duties."

"Ah," Harry murmured as he recalled his masked watchers from his first eighteen months in the village. "That would certainly explain why your cousin hadn't introduced himself. On the other hand, it doesn't explain why the Uchiha Clan as a whole has avoided the Namikaze Wheelhouse."

"As I said earlier, your reputation precedes you and to my everlasting embarrassment, my clan was amongst those who turned their back on the Yondaime's legacy," Itachi revealed in a measured tone and Harry frowned in confusion for a moment before he blanked his face of all emotion when he realized that the teen was referring to Naruto. Itachi inclined his head in response to Harry's change of expression before he continued, "We did not actively seek to harm him but neither did we make any attempts to help him. We had been ordered, by my predecessor, to ignore him entirely."

"Did your predecessor give you a reason for that order?"

"Aa, he feared that our clan would be accused of trying to control the Yondaime's legacy. In the wake of the Kyuubi's attack, our clan had been accused of being responsible for the Kyuubi's rampage due to the abilities of our doujutsu. The village, in turn, began to mistrust us and most of our clan did not appreciate the open suspicion nor did they enjoy the subtle ostracization that took place in the wake of the attack. So we went out of our way to pretend that Uzumaki Naruto did not exist."

Harry let out a snort of derision as he dryly quipped, "Most societies are made up of mindless sheep that are incapable of logical thought. The fact that a single Uchiha was responsible for unleashing the Kyuubi therefore means that the entire clan is responsible for the actions of a single man."

Itachi's entire demeanor turned cold and stiff and Harry suspected the teen had either misinterpreted Harry's comment or he'd felt insulted by the revelation that an Uchiha had been responsible for the Kyuubi's rampage.

"So, you too seek to accuse us," Itachi flatly stated and for the briefest moment, Harry thought he saw a flash of red in the teen's eyes accompanied by a small spike of chakra.

"You know, I really dislike it when people put words in my mouth, Uchiha-sama," Harry lightly countered as he leaned back and signaled for the bartender to bring him another round of sake.

"He will not bring you any more alcohol; you have had enough, Namikaze-san."

"There isn't enough alcohol in this village, let alone this bar, to get me drunk; which is a real tragedy, I tell you, because I'd love nothing more than to be drunk off my ass right now. Though, I really shouldn't be surprised that the bartender called you in to kick me out," Harry retorted as he climbed to his feet so he could leave now that his welcome had been worn out; he hadn't missed the fact that the younger man had dropped the more respectful honorific that he'd used when he'd first addressed him. "I had thought it odd that an unfamiliar shinobi would approach me so casually and without any real reason."

He took a moment to crack his back and stretch out his legs after sitting in an uncomfortable wooden chair for several hours before he offered his counterpart of the Uchiha Clan a bow.

"If you'll excuse me, it appears that I will need to find another bar or, in the event that you've already spread the word to all of the bars in town and told them not to sell me anything, perhaps I should hit a couple of the local liquor marts and see if I can't buy me a bar's worth of sake instead."

Harry then took three steps forward until he was standing beside Itachi's chair as he leaned down to quietly state, "And for the record, Minato fought off Uchiha Madara before he dealt with the Kyuubi. Whether or not you still claim him as a member of your clan, you can't deny that he was born an Uchiha and that he both has the Sharingan and a history of using and controlling the fox in his attempts to destroy Konoha. That is not based upon guesswork; it is fact."

Itachi sat frozen in his chair but Harry couldn't even begin to guess what the teen was thinking but he didn't particularly care so long as the teen wouldn't cause any trouble for his family. Message relayed, Harry began strolling towards the door intent on finding himself another source of cheap alcohol and a quiet place where his brooding was less likely to be interrupted by nosy, if well meaning, civilians or on-duty police officers.

"Please do not leave yet," Itachi calmly requested before Harry had gone more than two steps and Harry glanced back over his shoulder in time to see the teen stiffly climb to his feet. "How do you know that? What proof do you have that he was there that night?"

"Simple; Minato told me."

"The Yondaime is dead."

Harry resisted the urge he felt to roll his eyes as he resumed walking as he raised his voice to add, "So's his wife but I've spoken to her as well and she was present that night too." He'd just stepped outside of the bar when he felt a hand land on his shoulder and he let out a soft sigh as he asked, "Something else I can help you with, Uchiha-sama?"

"How is it possible for the living to speak with the dead or for the dead to attack the living?"

"What makes you think any of the dead have attacked the living?" Harry countered with some confusion as he turned to face the younger man and at the same time absently pulled his shoulder free of the light hold.

"Uchiha Madara was killed by Senju Hashirama at the Valley of the End not long after Konoha was founded."

"Was his body brought back to Konoha as proof? Or was he buried in an unmarked grave?"

"I do not know; that information was lost prior to my birth."

"Then there is a chance that he did not die at that time; there are hundreds of ways to fake death, after all."

"It is also possible that the Shodai Hokage cremated his body to prevent thieves from taking it."

"True… it is also possible that Madara's body was replaced with a clone at the last second if Madara had an accomplice working with him at the time."

"That is something I had not considered and I am sure we could sit here all afternoon and share conspiracy theories but I am far more curious as to how it is possible for the living to speak to the dead."

"I'm surprised you aren't already aware of that little trick of mine… I was certain that the rumor mill would have spread that one far and wide over the past two years."

"Are you referring to the prevalent belief that Minato-sama's shade follows you around like a lost pup?" Itachi inquired as he skeptically glanced right and left as if searching for Minato's ghost.

"Actually, he's more inclined to following his son around like a lost puppy," Harry corrected with a soft snort. "But for the most part, yes, you could say he's a bit of dead weight that I have to drag around with me; only he's a bit more useful and no where near as heavy. He's rather good at scouting and standing watch too, since walls are not an inconvenience for him and his stealth skills as an invisible ghost are rather impressive."

"_That was your worst pun yet, itoko,_" Minato complained as he suddenly popped up beside Harry as if called; which he sort of had been since he could sense when Harry needed him through the connection they shared with the Kyuubi.

"Meh, I wasn't really trying; I'm not exactly in the best of moods at the moment but I was attempting to be cordial to my contemporary here," Harry replied with a shrug of his shoulders as he watched Itachi try to break a genjutsu in response to Minato's sudden appearance.

"_Contemporary…? Oh, hello Itachi-kun; you've certainly grown up into a fine young man._"

"How are you projecting an image of the Yondaime?" Itachi demanded as his mouth curled down into a slight frown.

"I'm not."

"_I'm not a genjutsu, Itachi-kun,_" Minato informed the teen when Harry made no attempts to explain his presence. "_I'm a ghost. If you need proof that I'm both real and who I say I am, I'm certain I can think of something that no one else but you and I would know. Such as the time you stole a box of strawberry pocky from my pocket when Kushina and I visited your mother about three weeks before your brother was born._"

Pale pink dusted the younger clan head's cheeks in response to the teasing tone that Minato had used when revealing that the teen was a pocky thief and he muttered, "I was five and you weren't supposed to notice."

"_You were five,_" Minato agreed with a laugh, "_and the pocky was meant to be yours; which is why I never said anything when you liberated it from my pocket._"

Harry snorted in amusement at the chagrined look that passed over Itachi's face upon learning that he had not been as sneaky as he'd originally thought as a child. His mood abruptly plummeted when he recalled that Teddy was only five at the moment and that he wished to be a shinobi.

"Minato, Uchiha-sama wishes to hear about your fight with Madara twelve years ago," Harry abruptly stated as he turned away from the two of them. "I'll leave you to answer his questions while I go make a second attempt to drown out reality in cheap sake."

"_Nani…?_" Minato inquired in confusion.

"Namikaze-sama, it is unseemly for a shinobi of your station to continue disturbing the peace," Itachi chided as he once again grabbed Harry's shoulder with his hand.

"I haven't been disturbing the peace."

"I've had no less than eight civilian complaints that state otherwise."

"Damn it, why in the hell did I have to end up in the one bar with a bleeding heart for a bartender?" Harry rhetorically demanded as he threw a pouting glare in the direction of the bar he'd just exited. "Look, regardless of the complaints you've gotten; the only thing I'm guilty of is wasting my money on inferior sake. I haven't gotten into any fights, I've not destroyed any property, and I've not committed any acts of public indecency. All I want is to be left alone to drink in peace in the hopes that alcohol content in my bloodstream might increase fast enough to negate my body's ability to filter it out."

"_You're trying to get drunk!? Are you out of your mind, itoko!? Chikushou, do you have any idea of just how much damage you could do if you lost control!?_"

Harry opened his mouth to tell his dead cousin to get a grip on himself (because it wasn't like Harry could actually get drunk enough to lose control) only to snap his mouth shut when a slightly irritated Yamato dropped down from the rooftops. Harry frowned at his teichou trying to think of why the man might be upset with him. The older man didn't bother waiting for him to figure it out on his own though.

"Where the hell have you been, Takeshi? Did you forget we had a mission this morning?" Yamato demanded as he gave the Chuunin an irritated glare.

"Kuso," Harry cursed as he slapped a hand over his face; he _had_ completely forgotten about the escort mission that Yamato had picked up for their team the previous evening. "Sumimasen, teichou; I completely forgot about the mission you picked up for us last night. Will we still be able to take the mission or did you have to hand it off to another team?"

"We're still taking it; in fact, the original me and your teammates have already left the village. I was left behind to hunt you down so that you could catch up to the others. I was not expecting it to take me all morning to find you, though."

"I can meet you at the gates in six minutes; I just have to grab my pack and let the others know I'm leaving," Harry replied as he pulled his shoulder free of Itachi's grip a second time. "Uchiha-sama, I'm afraid I'll have to steal Minato for the duration of my mission; I'll have him haunt you for a day or two when we return."

Without waiting for a reply, Harry apparated back to the Namikaze Apartments to grab his pack and called half a dozen clones into existence to remind everyone that he was on a mission and so that they'd be able to pick up his wards from the Academy and his son from preschool that evening. He also took a moment to replenish his cash supply since he'd spent a small chunk of it on sake this morning. Once he was certain he had everything, Harry popped himself to the main gate where he found both Minato's shade and Yamato's clone waiting for him.

"I have informed the original me that we are on our way; he is currently channeling his chakra into one of the Hiraishin tags you gave him to carry."

"I guess that means that I'm supposed to take you with me?" Harry inquired as he signed himself out of the village.

"That is correct; the original me will need my chakra back."

A minute and a half later, Harry and the clone appeared beside the rest of his team on an empty stretch of road a good twenty miles out of Konoha in a yellow flash. Minato appeared beside him a split second later and Harry studiously ignored the spirit as he apologized again for his slip up that morning.

"Sumimasen, teichou; it completely slipped my mind that we had a mission this morning."

Yamato studied him for a moment as he reabsorbed his Moku Bunshin before he asked, "What happened? It's not like you to forget about a mission. It's also not like you to hide yourself away in the Red Light District, either."

"_The ahou was __**trying**__ to get himself drunk,_" Minato growled out in an snide tone before he stalked off into the forest that lined the road; a clear sign that the dead man was truly irritated with Harry at the moment.

"S'not like it worked," Harry grumbled as he shoved his hands in his pockets as he scowled back in the direction of Konoha while he kept hearing Teddy's request to join the Shinobi Academy running through his mind.

"What drove you, of all people, to drink? Did Tsunade-sama tease you about your virginity again?" Izumo asked with a small smirk on his face.

"No, not that she can tease me about that now anyway," Harry retorted with a soft snort as he grabbed the new topic with both hands in an effort to think about something other than his son's new career choice.

"Wait, did you just imply that you actually stuck around a girl long enough to get laid?" Kotetsu challenged in disbelief; Harry's reputation for avoiding those individuals looking for a relationship with him practically legendary by now.

"Actually, she convinced me to stick around long enough for her to convince me to make her my girlfriend."

"You, Mr. Cold Shoulder, have a girlfriend? When did that happen? Who is she? And why are we only just learning about it?" Izumo demanded as his visible eyebrow disappeared beneath his bandana in surprise.

"A true gentleman never kisses and tells."

"He's been dating Yuugao since the beginning of September," Yamato interjected on the heels of Harry's little quip and Harry frowned at the man. His captain saw the look and gave him a small smirk in return as he explained, "Yuugao and I are friends and we were teammates for several years; she confessed to me not long after you two got together. I didn't say anything before because I know how much you like your privacy but I figured you deserved every bit of teasing those two will to put you through for keeping that information from them after your stunt this morning."

"Yuugao, you are dating Uzuki Yuugao? One of the top ten hottest kunoichi in Konoha? How the hell did you manage that?" Kotetsu wondered as he threw an arm over Harry's shoulders and began guiding Harry along the road as Yamato's final comment reminded the group that they were currently supposed to be on a mission.

"And did the two of you have a fight this morning? Or did she break up with you?" Izumo asked as he fell in on Harry's other side and tossed an arm over Harry's shoulders too.

"No, I didn't have a fight with Yuugao and no we didn't break up," Harry replied as he allowed his teammates to drag him along.

"If you and Yuugao are not having problems, then why were you trying to get drunk this morning," Yamato inquired from his position behind the three Chuunin.

"Because trying to drown out my memories of this morning was preferable to becoming Ibiki's permanent guest by acting on my desire to destroy the Shinobi Academy?" Harry snarkily asked in response as he pulled off his glasses and briefly scrubbed at his face in an attempt to get himself under control.

"We've wanted to do that a time or two as well," Kotetsu admitted with a snort as he glanced sideways at Harry.

"But that was only because we found our lessons to be utterly boring and repetitive," Izumo added from Harry's other side. "What could the Academy have possibly done to you to earn your ire when you spent less than sixth months there?"

"Oh it hasn't done anything to me yet."

"Does your current displeasure have anything to do with the four boys you dropped off at the Shinobi Academy this morning?" Yamato inquired as Harry replaced his glasses and shoved his hands back in his pockets.

"No, it's going to do something far worse than educate my four wards."

"Is this about the Chuunin Exams scheduled to start on the sixteenth?" Izumo asked next as he exchanged a glance with Kotetsu over Harry's shoulders.

"No, this has nothing to do with Naruto or his teammates. No, this is about my _not yet six year old son_ asking if he could attend the Academy because he _wants_ to be a shinobi."

All three of his teammates winced in response to the bitterness in Harry's voice as he uttered that second sentence. His teammates were well aware of just how protective the green eyed shinobi was of his son and it didn't take a genius to figure out that Harry didn't want his son to be a shinobi. All three of them had not missed the fact that the pre-school that Harry had enrolled Teddy into had not had any connections to the Shinobi Academy.

"And you know what the worst part is?" Harry wearily asked as he ignored their reactions to his revelation. "I can't tell him no because then I'd be a hypocrite and I would loose his respect. And the moment I allow him to enter the Academy, I will have cost him his heritage because he will lose his only opportunity to attend his parents' school the moment he earns his hitai-ate. So, I'm damned if I do and damned if I don't."

"Why can't he do both?" Kotetsu asked with some confusion.

Harry let out a bitter laugh before he countered with, "Do you really believe that the Hokage would allow one of his shinobi to disappear for seven years?"

"What kind of school requires a student to stay there for seven full years?" Izumo wondered with a slight frown. "I know some children require more time to learn things than others but surely that wouldn't apply to every child."

"The kind that teaches the children born with my family's Kekkei Genkai how to harness their gift. And yes, it takes a full seven years for each and every child, regardless of how quickly or slowly they learn, to reach the point where they are considered fully trained."

"Why not send him to that school first before you allow him to start at the Academy?"

"He's too young; the school will not take any child under eleven years of age. Any younger and their training would only damage or shatter their core."

"Isn't it a little early to worry about whether or not he'll be a shinobi then? After all, there's a chance that your son will change his mind or even fail to graduate," Yamato logically pointed out.

"There are two problems with that statement, teichou; first, my son is stubborn beyond belief and two of his biggest role models are shinobi. And second, my son inherited his biological father's photographic memory and his mother's gift; there is no way he will fail because the moment the Hokage learns that my son wants to be a shinobi, he will insure that Satoshi is assigned to his best teacher because the Hokage wants my son to be a shinobi because he knows my son was born with my family's Kekkei Genkai."

"Would it not be possible for you to teach your son how to use his Kekkei Genkai?" Izumo inquired.

"Yeah, but I can't teach him everything since there are some aspects of our Kekkei Genkai that I was never all that good at and it's not like I studied each and every branch possible. Besides, it isn't just the formal training I would be denying him; I'd also be denying him a chance to experience the world his parents grew up in as well as a chance to make friends amongst the children of those families that his parents and I fought alongside during the war."

"How much did you drink before my clone found you?" Yamato asked once it became clear that Harry wasn't going to say anything further.

"Don't worry, teichou; I'm not drunk. The furball's chakra burnt the alcohol out of my system practically as soon as it hit my bloodstream."

"Good. Are you going to be able to concentrate on the mission? Or is your conflict over Satoshi-kun's desire to follow in your footsteps going to be a problem?"

"It won't be an issue."

"Then let's get moving; we're supposed to meet our client in Port City this afternoon and we're already running behind."

"I could jump us straight there to make up lost time," Harry offered as he winced over the reminder that he'd not met the others at the gate after dropping his son off at preschool like he was supposed to.

Yamato considered the offer for a moment before he replied, "Do it."

Harry nodded in response to the order before he created three clones and left the three of them to transport his teammates to Port City while he apparated to a secluded spot he remembered from past missions to the coastal town. As soon as he arrived, he dug a Hiraishin tag out of the inner pocket where he kept a ready supply of the handy little tags and began channeling chakra into it so his clones could lock onto the seal's signature. His teammates arrived in ten second intervals just a moment later.

"How were you able to transport yourself here without using a tag?" Yamato inquired as soon as all four of them were present.

"It's a technique similar to the Hiraishin; only it doesn't rely on seals but only lets me 'teleport' to those places I have visited. It is also a technique that my clones are incapable of performing since they are made out of pure chakra and the technique draws on my secondary reserves. I also prefer not to use it to transport others because it is disorienting for passengers and the excess energy needed to transport another makes it impossible to muffle the sound of my arrival."

"How many other little tricks like that have you been hiding?" Yamato demanded in exasperation as the four of them headed towards the docks where they were meeting their client.

"Thousands," Harry quipped with a small smirk that turned into a grimace when he realized that he was going to have to bite the bullet and reveal the full details of his 'Kekkei Genkai' to the Hokage if (when) he enrolled Teddy in the Shinobi Academy; if only because there would be no one at the Academy to hide Teddy's accidental magic like Eri did at the preschool. He shook off his displeasure a moment later as he added, "You've seen me use dozens of the less obvious ones on missions, though."

Yamato gave him an unimpressed look in response to that but refrained from commenting on Harry's tendency to keep secrets. Harry couldn't help but grin a little at that; it was nice to know that Yamato trusted him. That trust would probably see him sharing the truth of his 'Kekkei Genkai' with his captain after he'd spoken to the Hokage and would likely include his two teammates as well. It helped that he'd grown to trust them after working with them for months (or years in Yamato's case).

Letting out a soft sigh, Harry pushed all thoughts of magic and Teddy's wish to become a shinobi out of his mind so that he could focus on their mission to escort a traveling merchant to Konoha; one of a dozen such merchants that would be flocking to the village over the course of the next few weeks in order to take advantage of the Chuunin Exams to make a profit.

* * *

**Translations:** Japanese to English

Chikushou – damn/damn it  
Kuso – swear word  
Sumimasen – I'm sorry (formal)

* * *

**AN:** _So, lots of stuff happening here. The Wave Orphans have officially started at the Academy, Teddy's chosen his future career, Harry is stressing over Teddy's desire to take up a hitai-ate, Itachi has made an appearance, Harry has finally revealed his relationship w/ Yuugao to his teammates, and Harry is contemplating coming clean with the Hokage and his teammates about his magic to protect Teddy. _

_This chapter was a slight pain to clean up and the only reason I didn't post it sooner was because the last 650 some words were holding everything else original chapter had Harry demolishing a training ground w/ magic and then trying to get drunk but I felt he needed a little more self control than that because he is maturing. Hence why he didn't do anything destructive aside from try to get drunk. He also wasn't originally skiving off of a mission but that just sort of popped up and I left it as is. _

_Anyway, the next chapter will officially start the Chuunin Exams Arc and the entire arc will mostly be from Naruto's PoV with a few cameos from some other canon characters that will finally be making their debut in this story. I'm not sure when I'll start posting that as I'm still writing it. I do know that it will be somewhere between six and ten chapters long do to how much is going to be happening. I will keep a progress report up on my author's page so you can check the status of the arc but I'll tell you now not to expect anything any sooner than April, if not closer to summer. _

_On that note, I'd like to thank everyone for the reviews, favorites, alerts, and community adds. HAPPY HOLIDAYS ~ Jenn_


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